The Motor Girls in the Mountains or The Gypsy Girl's Secret Part 11

"And we'll take a couple of axes along," said Jack. "I have an idea some tall chopping will have to be done before we get the cars where they belong."

The girls went up to get their raincoats and overshoes, while the boys got their hats and hunted up Joel.

He was a tall, gaunt backwoodsman, who in his earlier days had been a guide in the Adirondack region. But periodic attacks of rheumatism had made it difficult for him to continue his calling, and he had become the man of all work at Kill Kare Camp. He knew the forest thoroughly and had an intimate acquaintance with the habits of every creature that had fur, fin or feather.

Despite his somewhat advanced years, he was still a powerful man, and his strength was equaled by his good-nature and reliability.

The boys liked him at once, and he on his part was very friendly and cordial.

"So you've got a couple o' them buzz wagons stalled there," he said.

"Never rode in one in my life, but the pesky things suttinly have it all over a hoss when it comes to git up and git."

"You've got a treat waiting for you, then, Joel," laughed Jack. "Some day we'll take you riding, and you'll go so fast you'll have to hold on to your hair to keep it from being blown off."

"I ain't prezactly pinin' fur no sich speed as that," said Joel. "I sh'd think them gals w'u'd be skeered to death to ride in one uv them."

"They drive them as well as ride in them," returned Jack. "My sister can handle one of them as well as any man can. You ought to have seen the race she gave me yesterday."

"Ye don't say so!" replied Joel, and it was evident that his respect for the feminine members of the party had gone up several degrees.

They were soon equipped with a lantern and three axes. In addition, Joel took along some sticks of resinous wood to serve as torches, and they came around to the front porch, where they found the girls impatiently waiting for them.

All started out in high spirits, Joel leading the way. The road was muddy, but they found fairly good footing on the turf that bordered it.

The rain had now entirely ceased.

It was not long before they reached the fallen tree, and they found the cars standing where they had left them.

"Ye needn't hev bin much skeered," grinned Joel. "There ain't many folks come along this way, an' them that do is giner'lly honest. It's only when the gypsies come round thet we hev to keep a tight grip on things, specially hosses. Them gypsies suttinly is light-fingered, an' they kin beat a weasel in gittin' into places where they ain't got no business to be."

"We saw a camp of them to-day," said Cora, in whom the word "gypsy" just now woke an instant response.

"Is thet so?" asked Joel in surprise. "Then they're probably headed up this way. I heven't seen 'em around these diggin's fur sev'ral years now, and I wuz hopin' I'd never see their ugly faces ag'in."

"I'd like to see Joel go to the mat with that pirate that took the girl away from us to-day," grinned Jack.

"It would be some sc.r.a.p," agreed Walter, as he took in the brawn and bulk of the backwoodsman. "I'd bet on Joel unless the other fellow used a knife."

In order to see more clearly what they were doing, the torches were lighted and placed where they would do the most good. Then Joel surveyed the scene of action.

"There's jist one thing to do," he finally announced, "an' thet is to cut through this tree an' git it off uv the road. It might be a leetle bit easier to git the cars around through the brush, but the tree can't be let to stay there blockin' up the road, an' I might ez well git it out of the way fust ez last."

He took off his corduroy jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his s.h.i.+rt, showing the mighty biceps beneath.

"You're not going to do it all alone," protested Jack. "Let us help.

There are two axes besides yours."

"Why," said Joel a little dubiously, "you boys ain't used to this kind uv work, an' I'm afraid it'll use ye up too much. It ain't only the strength, but there's a knack about usin' a woodsman's ax thet it takes time to git on to. Still, ye kin try it fur a while if ye want to."

Jack and Paul took off their coats, while the girls, who were perched like so many birds in Jack's car, clapped their hands in mock applause.

"Behold the gallant foresters," sang out Belle.

"'Woodman, spare that tree, Touch not a single bough!'"

quoted Bess.

"To-day it threatened me, I've no use for it now,"

improvised Cora.

"Listen to the trilling of the merry songsters," said Jack, with impressive sarcasm. "They toil not, neither do they spin. They mock and fleer at us sons of honest toil. They--"

"Get to work, Jack," Cora interrupted him heartlessly. "I love to see you work. It's so unusual. Joel will have the trunk cut through before you boys get started."

Thus adjured, Jack and Paul started in with a right good will, each attacking the trunk at a distance of about ten feet on either side of Joel.

Both boys were strong and st.u.r.dy, and they worked the more vigorously because they were under the appraising eyes of the girls. But their work was nothing compared with Joel's. Nowhere could there have been found a more striking ill.u.s.tration of the advantages of the professional over the amateur.

Joel's work was the very poetry of motion. Back and forth his flas.h.i.+ng ax swung tirelessly, biting with resistless force into the very heart of the tree, and in a surprisingly short time he had cut the trunk entirely through.

Walter took his turn with the other boys and did valiant execution. But all were soon winded with their unusual exertions, and were forced to rest, while the perspiration poured down their faces in streams.

"This has got it all over a Turkish bath," muttered Jack.

"I'll bet I've lost five pounds in as many minutes," growled Paul.

"There's an idea for you, Bess," said her sister mischievously. "Talk about reducing. You'd be a sylph in half an hour."

"I'd be a corpse, you mean," responded Bess. "No, thank you. I'll take my reducing in homeopathic doses."

Joel at this point insisted on finis.h.i.+ng the job. He had not turned a hair in his previous exertions, and he seemed as fresh as ever when the work was completely done.

"Now how are we going to get the logs off the road?" asked Jack.

"What's the matter with making the car do its share of the work?" asked Cora. "We'll fasten a rope to each one of the logs and with you men guiding them we can drag them to one side of the road."

The plan met with instant approval and in a very few minutes the road was clear.

"Good idea, sis," said Jack approvingly. "Now we'll bundle these tools into the cars and go to Camp Kill Kare in style."

CHAPTER IX THE "WATER SPRITE"

The next morning dawned clear and beautiful. The storm of the day before had washed the dust from plants and trees, and seemed to have washed the very air itself, for it was as clear as crystal and had a tonic quality that set the blood to dancing.