Splash!

The auto fairly dived into the brook, and gradually slackened speed.
Right toward a clump of willow trees it surged, throwing a spray of
water in advance. Then it became stationary in the middle of a spot
where the brook widened into a pond.

Cora was dimly conscious of a figure on the opposite bank of the
stream. A figure of a young man, with a fishing-pole in his hands.
She saw a spray of water, cast up by the auto, drench him. She even
heard him cry out, but at that moment she gave him not a thought.

Everything centered on her narrow escape, the condition of her two
chums, and, last, but not least, whether her new auto had been
damaged.

Cora leaned over the side and looked at the water flowing past the
mud guards.

"Safe!" she exclaimed. "I--I thought we were doomed, girls. Didn't
you?"

"Doomed?" echoed Elizabeth. "I never want to go through that
experience again."

"Me either," added Cora fervently. "Has Belle fainted?"

"I'm afraid so."

Cora leaned over, scooped some water up in her hand, and dashed it