, as
Betty bent over the figure of the strange girl. The latter's eyes were
closed, and her loosened hair was in a mass about her head--even tossed
as it was the girls could see there was a wonderful wealth of it. Betty
gently pushed aside the locks from the forehead, and, as she did so she
started back. Then bravely repressing her feelings she said:

"It's a cut, but it doesn't seem to be very deep."

"Oh, the blood--the blood!" murmured Mollie, putting her hands before
her eyes. "And--I--I did it!"

"Nonsense! Stop it!" cried Betty. "Perhaps you did not do it at all--it
may have happened in the fall."

"She is unconscious," said Grace.

"Yes, and we must get her to a doctor, or bring a doctor here as soon as
possible," spoke Betty. "I think we can get her to a doctor more
quickly. Will your machine run, Mollie? Can you operate it?"

"Oh, it will run all right. Nothing is broken, I'm sure of that. But
I----"

"You've just _got_ to run it," declared Betty, firmly, "even if it only
crawls. Now if we can find some water to bathe her head we can tell how
badly she is hurt. Girls, look for a spring. One of you bring me a lap
robe."

Thus Betty issued her orders, and while the girls are preparing to lend
aid to the injured stranger I will take a moment of your time--my new
readers--to explain briefly some facts about the characters of this
story.

In the first book, entitled, "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or, Camping
and Tramping for Fun and Health," I told how Mollie, Betty, Amy and
Grace, four girls of Deepdale, a town in the heart of New York State,
organized a little club for camping and tramping. They went on a tour of
about two hundred miles, stopping at night with friends or relatives,
and on that tramp they solved a queer mystery having to do with a five
hundred dollar bill--solved it very much to the satisfaction of a
certain young man.

In the second volume, called "The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake; Or, the
Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat _Gem_," I related what good times the
girls had when Betty's uncle gave her a fine gasoline craft. Stirring
times the girls had, too, when there was danger from a burning hay
barge; and jolly times when they took part in races and went to dances.
That Mollie's little sister Dodo was in distress because of a peculiar
accident, which involved Grace, and caused the loss of valuable papers,
detracted somewhat from the happiness of the girls for a time.

But in the