The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson: or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow. Crane Laura Dent
one and not such good traveling. What do you say, Aunt Sallie? Speak up, girls, are you all agreed?”
Miss Sallie was much troubled. She wanted to go and she did not want to go, and her mind was in a turmoil.
Bab was silent, and Grace and Mollie looked ready for anything.
“Well,” said Miss Sallie, after a moment’s reflection, “it is very dangerous and very venturesome; but, having got thus far, let us proceed on our way.” She folded her hands resignedly, like a martyred saint.
“Then off we go!” cried Ruth. The automobile rolled into the wooded road that penetrated a deeper part of the forest.
The dense shade was a relief after the open, dusty country. Tall trees interlaced their branches overhead and the ground was carpeted with fern and bracken.
But an uneasiness had come upon the automobilists. They did not attempt to explain it, for there was no apparent cause. The road was excellent so far, smooth and level; but something was in the air. Miss Sallie was the first to break the silence.
“I am terribly frightened,” she admitted, in a low voice. “We must have been bewitched to have attempted this ride. Ruth, my dear, I beg of you to turn and go back. I feel that we are running into danger.”
Ruth slowed up the machine a little, and called over her shoulder:
“You are right, Aunt Sallie, but I am afraid we can’t turn just yet, because there isn’t room. Anyway, we may be nearer to the other end of the wood by this time.”
The car sped on again, only to stop with such a sudden jerk, in the very depths of the forest, that the machinery ceased to whir and in a moment was silent.
For a few moments all hands sat perfectly still, dumb with terror and amazement.
Across the road was stretched another rope. There was no sign board on it to tell them there was danger ahead, but the girls needed none. They felt that there was danger ahead, behind, and all around them. They knew they were in a trap, and that the danger that threatened them would make itself known all too soon.
Barbara had whispered to Ruth.
“Back up as fast as you can!”
Ruth had replied in another whisper:
“I can’t before I crank up.”
Regaining her nerve, Ruth was about to leap to the ground when she saw, and the four others saw at the same moment, the figure of a man standing by a tree at the roadside. It would seem that he had been standing there all along, but so still and motionless that he might been one of the trees themselves. And for two reasons he was a terrifying spectacle: one because his features were entirely concealed by a black mask, the other because he carried in one hand a gleaming and remarkably sharp looking knife, a kind of dagger, the blade slightly curved and pointed at the end, the silver handle chased all over in an intricate design.
To her dying day Bab would never forget the picture he made.
He wore a dark green velveteen suit, like a huntsman’s, and a felt hat with a hanging brim that covered his head.
“Pardon me, ladies,” he said in a curious, false voice, “but I must request you to keep your places.”
Ruth, who was poised just over the step, fell back beside Barbara, who had maintained her position, and sat with blanched cheeks and tightly closed lips.
The highwayman then deliberately slashed all four tires with his murderous looking weapon. At each explosion Miss Sallie gave a stifled groan.
“Do not cry out, Madam,” said the robber sternly, “or it will go hard with you.”
“Be still,” whispered little Mollie, bravely taking Miss Stuart’s hand and patting it gently.
“And now, ladies,” continued the man more politely, “I must ask you to put all your money and jewelry in a pile here. Stand up,” he said to Barbara. “Put it on this seat and leave out nothing or you will regret it.”
The five women began mechanically to remove what simple jewelry they happened to be wearing, for the most part pins, rings, bracelets and watches, the latter Ruth’s and Grace’s. Then came the pocket books, Mollie’s little blue silk knitted purse topping the pyramid.
“But this is not all your money,” said the robber impatiently. “Do not delay. It is getting late.”
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