"None at all," he said despondently. "I seem to be up against a stone wall, and so do the lawyers and searchers I have engaged. We get to a certain point, and there we stick. After that, all traces of her are lost." "Poor little sister! I wonder what she will look like, and what she will be like?" "Then you never saw her?" "Only when she was a baby, and I a small chap. I do not remember her. But I have not given up hope yet. Now, how are you all, and what has happened since I went away?" Betty told him, including the news about the new auto ice boat. "That sounds interesting," declared Mr. Blackford. "I want a ride in that." "That's more than I do," spoke Mollie. "I'd rather go in an airship." "So would I," agreed Grace. But when the next day, after several false starts, and a breakdown, the motor was finally set in motion on the _Spider_, the girls were interested enough to come down to look at it. "All aboard!" cried Will, who was quite proud of his apparatus. "Come on, girls!" "Wait until we see you try it," suggested Betty. "Well, then, get in, fellows!" Allen, Frank and Mr. Blackford took their places, Allen to steer while Will looked after the motor. Looking to see that all was running smoothly, the big notched wheel at the stern revolving swiftly, Will cautiously lowered it. There was a shower of icy particles as the teeth chipped into the frozen surface of the river, and then the _Spider_ slowly forged ahead, under the influence of the motor instead of a sail. "Oh, they're actually moving!" cried Grace. "And how fast!" agreed Mollie. "That's fine!" declared Betty. "I--I'm going to ask them to give me a ride!" exclaimed Amy. "Oh, it must be glorious!" "Well, if she's brave enough to risk it, I am!" said Grace positively. "Shall we go, girls?" "Wait a bit and see what happens," suggested Mollie. But nothing seemed to be going to happen. On up the river went the auto ice boat at ever-increasing speed. CHAPTER XIX MAROONED "Dare we take it out ourselves?" asked Grace. "I don't see why not," replied Mollie. "I can run a motor car, Betty can manage a motor boat, and this is sort of between them both. Of course we can run it!" "Will you promise to go slow?" asked Amy, timidly. "Of course," agreed Betty. "Anyhow the ice is so soft that we can't get as much speed out of it as the boys did the other day." The outdoor girls were grouped about the auto ice boat at the little dock near their cabin. The boys had gone off on a hunt, a rumor of a bear having been seen about five miles off coming to them by a friendly lumberman. The girls were discussing the advisability of going out for a little trip in the queer craft that Will and his chums had made. For a week past the boys had run it at various times, taking the girls out on trips, and explaining how the motor and notched wheel operated. The girls had even run it for short distances themselves, under the tutelage of the boys.