“Oh, do, Cora! It won’t do any harm, and it will complete the nerve cure you have begun so well. Besides, we need a little practice in racing. We may take part in the water carnival down here.”
“Well, if the rest of you are willing, I’m not going to be the one to object,” returned Cora, smilingly.
“Will—will it be dangerous?” faltered timid Marita.
“Not a bit—you dear little goose!” exclaimed Belle, putting her arm about the shrinking one. “We’ve raced lots of times—and won, too!”
“Against such appealing strangers?” asked Lottie, raising her eyebrows in a rather affected way.
“Oh, it’s all in the game!” laughed Bess. Certainly her nerves seemed all right now.
The young man—he had refrained from giving his name, either by accident or design—had been bending over his motor during the whispered talk among the girls. Now he looked up again.
“Well,” he asked, pleasantly, “is it to be a race?”
“If you like,” answered Cora, calmly.
“I certainly do like. I’m going to enter some of the Bayhead races, and I’d like to see how my boat will go.”