After a series of remarkable events their trip ended with the capture of a society "cracksman," known to the police as the "Boy Raffles." The "Automobile Girls" then returned to Kingsbridge, where several weeks later, Mr. A. Bubble once more bore them away to the heart of the Berkshires. There they spent a delightful month, in a little log cabin, roughing it. In "The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires," the story of the little Indian "ghost" that haunted "Lost Man's Trail," and who afterwards turned out to be an Indian princess is charmingly related.
After a winter of hard study, the "Automobile Girls" were again reunited, and in "The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson," their journey through the beautiful Sleepy Hollow Country is narrated. The eventful weeks spent in the ancestral home of Major Ten Eyck, an old friend of Miss Sallie Stuart's, ending with their brave fight to save the beautiful old house from destruction by forest fires, made the "Automobile Girls" stand out as true heroines.
The best work since their initial adventure, however, had been done in Chicago, and the record of it, set down in "The Automobile Girls at Chicago," was not yet three months old. While on a holiday visit to Ruth, at her Chicago home, they had been the guests of the Presbys, relatives of the Stuarts, at their country place "Treasureholme." Owing to imprudent speculation in wheat, both Mr. Stuart and Mr. Presby had become heavily involved and were facing financial ruin. Through the efforts of Barbara Thurston, aided by the other "Automobile Girls" the rich treasure, buried by one of the ancestors, was discovered in time to save the Presby estate.
Before leaving Chicago, Mr. Stuart had promised his daughter and her friends a sojourn at Palm Beach during the month of March. Now the "Automobile Girls" had actually arrived in the "Land of Flowers" eager for any pleasure that sunny Florida might yield them.
The four young girls were unusually quiet as they sat idly looking out over the water. Maud Warren's arrival had cast a chill over them.
It had been an enchanted land, Barbara reflected rather resentfully, now the enchantment was broken.
Ruth sat covertly taking stock of Miss Warren's elaborate white lace gown and wondering why young girls ever insisted on aping so called "society" fashions. While Mollie and Grace speculated as to how long a call the Warrens were going to make.