tty, bathing the stranger's face and
wrists.

"Are you sure we didn't hit her with the auto?" asked Mollie,
tremblingly.

"I am almost sure you did not," spoke Betty, positively. "As she started
to fall you steered out. She just toppled to the ground. See, there is
not a mark of dust on her dress, as there would be if the tires had
struck her."

"Yes, but perhaps the mud guard, or----"

"But her dress isn't torn or much disarranged. No, Mollie, the auto
never struck her, of that I'm sure. But possibly she fell on her head,
and the blow and shock stunned her. Oh, we must get her to a doctor!

"Come, girls," went on Betty, "we can lift her into the auto, I'm sure,
and take her to the nearest house. Then we'll go for a physician."

"Try to arouse her, first," suggested Mollie. "I can't bear to see
her--this way."

Betty used more water, and succeeded in getting some between the pale
lips of the girl, but to no purpose. She was limp and half senseless,
though she continued to moan and talk incoherently. Then the four girls
picked her up and carried her toward the stalled automobile.

CHAPTER III

STRANGELY MISSING

"Wait a minute," directed Betty, as she and her chums advanced, carrying
the unconscious girl. "We'll have to put her down here, where the grass
is soft."

"Why?" asked Amy, "she isn't heavy."

"No, but it will be better to get the auto out of the bushes, and into
the road before we put her in it. Something might go wrong, and jolt
her."

"That's so," agreed Mollie. "I think I can do it. Oh, but I'm nervous!"

"Shame on you!" cried Betty. "Be an outdoor girl--be your own brave
self, Mollie!"

"I will!" and there was determination in her voice. "I'm sure I can get
the car out all right!"

Mollie took her place at the wheel, pressed the starting button, and
then, with a glance backward to see which way to steer, she slipped in
the reverse gear, and let the clutch come into place. Slowly, amid a
tearing away of vines and bushes, the car regained the highway.

"Good!" cried Grace. "Now, how shall we put her in, Betty?" for the
"Little Captain," as she was often called (as Mollie was called "Billy")
was generally looked to for advice in emergencies like these.

"You and Amy must hold her between you on the rear seat," Betty
directed. "Support her all you can. Mollie will drive slowly."

"But perhaps we ought to get her to a doctor right away," spoke the
owner of the car.

"Getting h