“Glad to see you ready, girls,” said Aunt Emma, briskly. “Hop out, Burd, and you and Darry pile the luggage in the tonneau. I have an old salt’s nose for a storm, and I scent one brewing in the distance. The sooner we get started, the better it will be for all of us.”
Spurred on by this injunction, the boys in a short time had everything ready for the start.
“We’ll have to stop and pick up Fol and Nell,” Jessie reminded them. “But that won’t take long if they are only ready for us.”
“Let’s hope they’ll be,” returned Darry, adding, as he stepped on the starter: “Lead on, Miss Alling. We can do no better than follow in your footsteps.”
Nell and Fol were waiting on the porch of the parsonage, and so they met no delay there. The weather was ideal for such a trip, and, as Miss Alling said, barring accidents, there was no reason why they should not reach Forest Lodge on Lake Towako in time for lunch.
Aunt Emma was an excellent driver, and the handsome car covered mile after mile of macadam road with a smooth, softly-purring motion that was tonic to the action-loving girls. Nell sat beside Miss Alling, and Amy and Jessie occupied the roomy tonneau which seemed not in the least cluttered by the luggage that had been piled in it.
“Oh, isn’t this air wonderful?” sighed Jessie, happily, after a time.
“And the scenery!” murmured Amy. “Look at that mountain rising straight ahead of us. Did you ever see anything more glorious?”
“There is a bridge at the foot of this hill,” Aunt Emma threw over her shoulder. “Wait till you see the view from there.”
For some time they had been traveling straight up into the mountains. The road had been almost one steady ascent. Now, however, the road dipped sharply, and the car—Aunt Emma rarely used any brake but the brake pedal, even on the steepest hills—slid downward with dizzy speed.