know anything like it?”
“No, I never did! It’s like being in some enchanted place! I’ve never before been out at night.”
“And there never was such a night as this! Are you afraid?”
“Oh, no, not a bit! I know my car too well, and I know you are not driving recklessly, though we are going pretty fast.”
Philip slowed down his speed a little, and they went steadily on.
“We oughtn’t to be doing this,” said Patty, laughing like a gleeful child.
“Why not?” asked her companion, in an aggrieved tone.
“Oh, lots of reasons! For one thing, I’m a hostess.”
“Yes, but you haven’t any guests. They’ve all scooted off by themselves in different directions; even your father and mother deserted the veranda, so I’m the only guest you have for the moment, and, I assure you, I’m being very pleasantly entertained.”
“So am I,” said Patty, demurely. “But somehow I have an uneasy feeling that I’ll catch a scolding for this! I’m not accustomed to going out with a young man late at night.”
“Oh, well, I’m not very young, and it isn’t very late, so don’t bother about that. And anyway, if you’re going to catch a scolding, you may as well have the fun first. And it is fun, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s gorgeous fun! I never enjoyed anything more! But we mustn’t go any further. We’re about three miles beyond Spring Beach now.”
Sure enough, they had gone beyond all signs of habitation, and were on a long, straight stretch of road, with the ocean on one side and pine woods on the other. It was weirdly beautiful,—the dark shadows of the pines, darker than ever by contrast with the moonlighted spaces. There was no boardwalk here, and the sea dashed almost up to the road they were on.
“All right,” said Philip, in answer to Patty’s suggestion, “we will turn around in a minute. We’ll just go to that next clump of pines, and then we’ll turn back.”
He lowered the speed, and they crawled slowly along toward the trees he had indicated.
“It’s perfect,” sighed Patty, drinking in the beauty all around her. “I’m glad you helped me guess those questions, or I never should have had this experience. Except for one moonlight night in Venice, I’ve never seen anything so lovely.”
“Then you’re glad I brought you, if it was a case of kidnapping?”
“Yes,” said Patty, while a demure smile dimpled at the corners of her mouth. “I think I like being kidnapped. Are you going to hold me for ransom?”
“I’d like to, but nobody could offer a ransom big enough to get you back!”
“Now that’s a pretty speech;” and Patty nodded her head approvingly. “So, as there’s no ransom to be considered, please take me back to my fond parents, for I have no doubt they’re scared to death wondering where I am.”
Chapter XIII.
Patty’s Ingenuity
Philip turned the car around, and, in a few moments, they were swiftly speeding toward home.
“It’s awfully good of you,” he said, “to give me this little bit of your time all to myself.”
“I don’t think I gave it,” observed Patty, smiling; “I think you took it when I wasn’t looking.”
“Yes, and when no one else was looking, or I mightn’t have succeeded so well. But it’s been a gorgeous ride, and now I’m going to take you right back to home and mother. Do you suppose those people who went to see the ocean are still looking at it? If so, it will be fun to drive right down to them.”
“Oh, don’t try it! Camilla cuts up dreadfully if she gets stuck in the sand. It’s the one thing she won’t stand!”
“All right, we’ll go right, straight, bang home, then. Whew! We have come farther than I thought! We can’t see the lights of Spring Beach yet.”
“No; but I know where we are. It’s about three miles to Spring Beach. Put on a good speed, and we’ll soon do it. There’s not a thing in the road, and I’ll trust your fast driving.”
“All right, my lady; here goes!” Van Reypen flung in the highest speed and they fairly flew. And then, quite suddenly and without any jar or jolt, or warning of any kind, they found themselves sitting quite still. Camilla had stopped of her own accord, and seemed absolutely disinclined to proceed. There was no noise and no fuss, the car simply stood motionless.
“What did you stop for?” asked Patty, turning an enquiring face toward Van Reypen.
“I didn’t stop; she stopped herself. Your friend Camilla is not in such haste to get home as you are, and she wants to see the moonlight on the sea once again.”
“Nonsense! Didn’t you truly stop the car?”
“No, truly I didn’t, and, what’s more, I can’t make it go on.”
“Then something has happened!”
“Right-o! How clever of you to guess that! But it’s your car, and you know its tricks and its manners. What does it mean when she stops like this, gently but firmly?”
“I don’t know;” and Patty looked blankly bewildered. “She’s never done such a thing before. Of course something must be out of order,—but I can’t think what. The tires are all right.”
“Yes, of course; it isn’t a puncture. But I can’t think myself what it can be. Well, I’ll have to overhaul the engine and see what I can see.”
Van Reypen got out and began to investigate, but he could find nothing wrong in any part. “Has the charge given out?” he asked.
“No, the batteries are all right. It was fully charged this morning, and I used it very little to-day. She’s good for eighty or ninety miles easily, and I haven’t run twenty to-day.”
“Then, I give it up. I do know something about cars, but I’m much more experienced with the gasoline motors. However, this is so beautifully made, and yet so really simple of construction, that I feel I ought to understand it. You get out, and take a look.”
Philip held the lamp while Patty peered anxiously into the motor.
She didn’t understand fully all the complicated parts, but she had a fair working knowledge of its main principles, and she, too, was unable to discover anything wrong or out of order.
“We’re in a lovely mess,” she observed, cheerfully, as she stood looking at Philip.
“Yes, we’re up against it,” he rejoined, but his tone was as cheerful as her own, and they both laughed as they looked at each other. For, given a moonlight night, and two merry young people, it is not difficult to look on the bright side of a motor misfortune.
“Now,” said Patty, philosophically, “what do we do next?”
“I’m not very familiar with this locality, but, if there were any chance of a big car coming along, we’d ask them to tow us. The running gear of this car is all right.”
“Yes, and so is the steering gear. And the batteries seem to be in perfect order. I can’t imagine what’s the matter. However, I can inform you there’s precious little chance of any car coming along this way now. Seashore people always go to bed early, and they never ride at night, anyhow. No, we’ll have to walk home.”
“And leave the car here?”