Chapter XII: An Ugly Customer

"Mr. Morley!" exclaimed Bess and Belle in a breath.

"Isn't it so?" demanded Cora. "I was struck by it when we first saw him just after we got off the boat."

"When I come to think of it, I believe you're right," replied Belle slowly.

"He has a way of holding his head like hers," agreed Bess.

"But it's the eyes," went on Cora. "They're blue like hers, and there are times when they have exactly the same expression. Girls, I believe we're on the edge of a mystery!"

"Don't talk so loud," cautioned Belle, "or the boys may catch something of what you're saying and they'll tease us to death about it."

"But, after all, what does it all amount to?" asked Bess. "It doesn't prove that they have the slightest connection with each other."

"And even if they have, what could we do about it?" asked Belle. "It's like the dog running after the train. What would he do with it if he caught it?"

The girls laughed.

"It is a tangle," admitted Cora. "We couldn't go to Mr. Morley and tell him that we'd seen a gypsy girl who reminded us of him."

"He mightn't take it as a compliment," suggested Bess.

"Or he might think we'd gone crazy," said Belle.

"There are probably ten million people in the world that the gypsy girl looks like in one way or another," said Bess, with difficulty suppressing a yawn. "Let's go to bed and forget all about it."

But Cora, as she slipped between the sheets, was far from intending to dismiss the subject in such cavalier fashion.

At breakfast the next morning, Paul proposed that they should visit an old logging camp that Joel had told him was located a few miles away.

"Of course it isn't in operation now," he said. "You'd have to visit it in winter to see it running full blast. But it will be interesting to see the bunk-houses and the flumes, and get an idea of the way the work is carried on."

"We won't have to do much walking," said Jack. "Joel says that the road between here and there is a pretty good one for the cars. We can take our lunch along and make an all-day picnic of it."

The girls fell into the plan with enthusiasm, and in a short time the cars were brought to the front of the house, and they were ready to start.

Joel stood by, looking on with lively curiosity, as Cora took the wheel.

"How about a little spin for a mile or two?" laughed Cora.

Joel grinned a little sheepishly.

"Come along," urged Cora, "and I'll show you what fast going is really like."

"Better make your will, Joel," laughed Jack. "That sister of mine is some speed demon."

"I'm afraid it will put ye out in yer plans," objected Joel, though it was plain he was tempted.

"Not a bit of it," returned Cora cheerily. "We have all day before us. The rest will stay here, while you and I go down the road for a mile or two and back."

Joel looked at Mrs. King, and as she smiled her approval, he climbed clumsily into the car and sat in the back seat. Cora threw in the clutch, and the car started off.

"Hold on to your hair, Joel," Jack shouted after him.

The road was fairly good right there, and Cora increased the speed until the car was going well.

Joel gasped and held on tight to the sides of the car. He had never traveled on anything faster than the little narrow-gauge railroad train that wheezed along at about ten or fifteen miles an hour. Now he was moving at the rate of forty or more.

After about two miles had been covered, Cora eased up and prepared to turn the car.

"How about it, Joel?" she asked mischievously, as she straightened out for home.

"It's--it's scrumptious, miss!" gasped Joel, "but ain't ye feared ye'll wreck yer car? Doesn't seem's if anything on four wheels c'u'd stand it."

"Don't worry about that," replied Cora, and again Joel was treated to a burst of speed that set his heart thumping violently against his ribs.

It was with a sigh of relief that he climbed down from the car when it had come to a full stop.

"Sufferin' cats!" exclaimed the old backwoodsman, as he faced his grinning audience, "I've faced b'ars an' painters an' catamounts, but I wuz never so plumb skeered in all my life!

"An' to think uv a gal havin' the spunk to drive like that!" he muttered to himself, as he made his way back to the barn. "She suttinly is some gal!"

"A little rich for Joel's blood, I guess," laughed Jack, as the gay party started off.

"He'll grow to like it, though," prophesied Cora. "He'll be ready for another one by the time we get back."

The cars moved along now at a moderate pace, for they had ample time before them and were not at all anxious to reach their destination.

Suddenly Jack's car, which was in advance, came to a full stop. He turned about and motioned for Cora to drive up as softly as possible.

"What is it?" she asked as she drew up alongside.

For answer, Jack pointed ahead, and the girls saw a big rattlesnake sunning himself in the road.

The girls gave a shriek that roused the snake. He reared his ugly triangular head, saw the cars, and with an angry rattle threw himself into position for attack or defense as the case might call for. His forked tongue played back and forth like lightning and his wicked eyes sparkled with rage.

"Beauty, isn't he?" asked Jack.

"Oh, let's get back!" cried Belle. "He may try to climb into the car!"

"A black snake does that sometimes, but a rattler never does," declared Walter. "He'll leave us alone if we leave him alone."

"For goodness' sake, leave him alone, then!" pleaded Bess.

"I'm going to get a closer look at him," said Jack, preparing to jump from the car.

"Don't, Jack, don't!" cried Cora, and there was such fear in his sister's voice that Jack yielded, though reluctantly.

"We're not going to let him get away, are we?" he grumbled.

"Why not?" replied Cora. "He wasn't doing anything to us."

"He ought to be killed on general principles," said Paul.

"He's an enemy of the human race," added Walter.

But this viewpoint did not appeal to the girls.

"He has a right to his life," said tender-hearted Bess.

"To be sure he has," acquiesced Belle. "Besides, you boys haven't any weapons, and you might get bitten."

"There are plenty of rocks and sticks around here to kill him with," said Walter.

But the girls insisted, and while they were excitedly talking, the snake himself, seeing that he was not attacked, solved the matter by uncoiling and gliding away into the bushes at the side of the road.

"A perfectly good bunch of rattles gone to waste," said Jack disgustedly, as they prepared to start on again.

"He's given us a tip anyway to be on the lookout," warned Walter. "Where there's one there may be others. Joel says they're not very plentiful about here, but he does run across them sometimes. I wonder what Joel would say if he knew we had a chance to kill one and didn't do it."

"It doesn't matter what Joel thinks," said Bess. "I'm glad we let him go."

"You can't help handing it to the old boy for pluck," said Jack, with grudging admiration. "He was ready to fight the whole six of us."

"If it had been a regiment, it would have been just the same," remarked Paul.

"He kept that old buzzer of his working overtime," laughed Walter. "No striking on the sly for him. He keeps telling you just what he hopes to do to you."

"It's the first time I've met a rattler under such circumstances, and I hope it will be the last," said Bess.

"I guess his snakeship feels the same way about us, so honors are even," laughed Paul.

The party kept a sharp lookout from that time on, but no other snakes were encountered, and a few minutes later the logging camp came into view.