The Haunted Showboat Read Online Free PDF Page A

rocks. These were pushed securely behind the front tires. Then the three friends took positions behind the sedan.
    “I’ll count,” said Nancy. “When I say ‘three,’ heave ho!”
    Leaning over, they grasped the bumper and began to jounce the car up and down. The girls’ faces were strained as they waited for a high bounce.
    In a moment Nancy said, “One! Two!” Bess and George worked feverishly, then waited. “Three!” Nancy cried.
    Together the girls lifted the rear of the car almost two feet back toward the center of the road.
    “Hypers!” cried George, using her favorite expletive. “It worked. Nancy, you’re a brain child!”
    Nancy stepped into the car and started the motor. She drove forward a few inches, so that Bess and George could remove the stone blocks. Then they too climbed in.
    Slowly Nancy began to back down the hill. This proved to be difficult to do, because the wind had shifted and blown quantities of the snow across the road. Twice the car stuck fast and the cousins had to get out and tramp down the drifts before she could proceed.
    Finally Nancy reached the foot of the hill. She consulted the map again and turned to the right. Half an hour later they came to the main highway.
    Suddenly Bess said apprehensively, “I only hope that car thief is holed up somewhere because of the storm.”
    “I have a hunch he is,” Nancy said cheerfully.
    Toward the end of the day the girls left the snowstorm behind. To make up for lost time, they drove until eleven that night before they stopped at a motel. By this time they had reached Alabama, with its blooming plants, green grass, and beautiful trees.
    “What a relief this scenery is!” said Bess, getting out of the car and stretching.
    “And the temperature,” George added. “It was only ten degrees when we left. Now it’s about sixty!”
    After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast the next morning, the girls started off again. Soon they were in an area of lovely Southern plantations. They were thrilled by glimpses of the homes, so large and stately with their tall columned porches and beautiful gardens. Quaint cabins, formerly used by slaves, stood some distance away from the houses.
    Bess ohed and ahed to such an extent that George finally said teasingly, “You remind me of a dripping ice-cream cone, Bess. Sweet, but oh so gooey!”
    “I wish,” Bess retorted, “that you could enjoy it the way I do.”
    Nancy, to change the subject, said, “Tell me about your cousin Donna Mae.”
    “Well,” Bess began, “she’s a year older than I am, tall and pretty. She has blond hair and great big blue eyes.”
    George interrupted laughingly, “And does she roll those eyes around to get her own way!”
    “You’re just jealous,” Bess told her. “Any girl who could be engaged to two men in one year—”
    George tossed her bobbed head at the remark. “One would be enough for me! But really, I’ve always liked Donna Mae. I wonder why she broke her first engagement. There must have been a serious reason.”
    “Or just a change of heart.” Nancy remarked.
    The rest of the trip was one of banter and teasing, and exclamations, even by George, over the beauty of the scenery. The car thief was almost completely forgotten.
    “I’ve never seen such exquisite azaleas in my life!” Bess remarked, as the girls drove through the Mobile area.
    “As I recall,” said Nancy, “this place is noted for its azaleas.”
    “Yes, it is,” Bess replied. “The Garden Clubs put on special tours for tourists to see them.”
    “But this ride,” joked George, “is a privately conducted tour by Drew and Company!”
    Soon the girls reached the broad Mississippi and gazed at the peaceful, somewhat muddy river.
    “It looks harmless enough, doesn’t it?” George remarked. “But think of the pirate days when travelers weren’t safe on it!”
    Nancy followed the river road for several miles, then turned inland.
    “Sunnymead is just ahead,” Bess