Part 4 (1/2)

”And the noise of them is so terrifying,” went on Ruth, ”that the poor headless horseman would probably have been scared back to death again.”

Presently the girls came to a steep declivity in the land that seemed to dip and rise with equal suddenness.

”Is this the Hollow?” asked Mollie a little awed.

”This land is full of hollows, my dear,” answered Miss Sallie, who did not like uneven traveling. ”We have been through several already, and, with that hobgoblin on an infernal machine coming after us, and all these dense forests packing us in on every side, and nothing but a lonesome churchyard in front of us, it seems to me we should have brought along some better protectors than two slips of girls.”

Here Miss Sallie paused in order to regain breath.

”I declare,” exclaimed Ruth, ”I don't know which one of these roads leads to the churchyard. Of course we can explore both of them, but we don't want to miss seeing the old church, and we certainly don't want to miss lunch. It will be so cheerful picnicking in a graveyard.”

The automobile stopped and the motor cycle, catching up with them just then, stopped also. The rider put his foot down to steady himself, and removing his black leather cap and gla.s.ses, bowed courteously to Miss Stuart.

”Is Madame looking for the ancient church?” he asked, in very excellent English with just a touch of accent.

The five women remembered, at once, that this was the stranger whom they had lately seen at breakfast. From closer quarters they saw that he was good-looking, not with the kind of looks they were accustomed to admire, but still undeniably handsome. His features had rather a haughty turn to them, and his black eyes had a melancholy look; but even the heavy leather suit he wore could not hide the graceful slenderness of his figure.

”Yes; we were looking for the church,” replied Miss Sallie in a somewhat mollified tone, considering she had just called him a hobgoblin on an infernal machine. ”Will you be good enough to tell us which one of these roads we must take?”

”If you will follow me,” answered the stranger, ”I also am going there.

You will pardon me if I go in front? If you will wait a moment I will get somewhat ahead, so that madame and the other ladies will not be dusted.”

”I must say he is rather a polite young man,” admitted Miss Sallie, ”if he is somewhat rapid in his movements.”

”He is curiously good-looking,” reflected Ruth. ”Not exactly our kind, I should say; but, after all, he may be just foreign and different. Just because he is not an American type doesn't keep him from being nice.”

All the time the foliage was getting more impenetrable. Tall trees reared themselves on either side of the road, seeming vanguards of the forests behind them. A cool, woodsy breeze touched their cheeks softly, and Barbara closed her eyes for a moment that she might feel the enchantment of the place.

”How many Dutch burghers and their wives must have driven up this same gra.s.sy road,” she was thinking to herself. ”How many wedding parties and funeral trains, too, for here is their graveyard. No wonder a traveler imagined he saw ghosts on this lonely road, with nothing but a cemetery and an old church to cheer him on his way. And here is our auto running in the very same ruts their funny old carriages and rockaways must have made, and this stranger in front of us on something queerer still. I wonder if ghosts of the future will ride in phantom autos or on motor cycles. What a fearful sight! A headless man on an infernal machine--”

Her reflections were interrupted by the turning around of the automobile. Ruth had evidently decided to go back by the way they had come. Opening her eyes she saw before her a quaint and charming old church set in the midst of a rambling graveyard.

There also stood the black cyclist, like a gruesome sentinel among the tombs. He lifted his cap as they drew up, and, after hesitating a moment, came forward to open the door and help Miss Sallie alight.

”Permit me, Madam,” he said, with such grace of demeanor that the lady thanked him almost with effusion. Grace and Mollie were a.s.sisted as if they had been princesses of the blood, as they described it later, while the other two girls leaped to the ground before he had time to make any overtures in their direction.

There was rather an awkward pause, for a moment, as the stranger, with uncovered head, stood aside to let them pa.s.s. The silence was not broken and Miss Stuart chose to let it remain so.

”One cannot be too careful,” she had always said, ”of chance acquaintances, especially men.” However, she was predisposed in favor of the cyclist, whose manners were exceptional.

The girls were strolling about among the graves, examining the stones with their quaint epitaphs, while the stranger leaned against a tree and lit a cigarette.

Miss Stuart, with her lorgnette, was making a survey of the church.

”From the account of the supper party at the Van Ta.s.sels' in Sleepy Hollow,” said Ruth, ”the early Dutch must have just about eaten themselves to death. Do you remember all the food there was piled on the table at the famous quilting party? Every kind of cake known to man, to begin with; or rather, Was.h.i.+ngton Irving began with cakes. Roast fowls and turkeys, hams and sausages, puddings and pies and the humming tea-urn in the midst of it.”

”I don't think the women had such big appet.i.tes as the men,” observed Mollie. ”At least Katrina Van Ta.s.sel is described as being very dainty, and I can't imagine a pretty young girl working straight through such a bill of fare, and yet looking quite the same ever after.”