"Look at that! What"s happened to the other car! Stop, Chet!"
The young folks in the Belding car sprang up and looked back. They were just in time to see the man who drove the sight-seeing car fall sidewise from his seat, and slip down until half of his body lay upon the step.
He had dropped the wheel and the heavy car was running wild.
The two cars were out of the city now, and running upon a lonely bit of road. The Belding car was, indeed, half way down the long slope, which the heavier one had just begun to descend. The big auto began to wabble from side to side, and those ahead saw one of the Lockwood twins seize the man who had fallen and drag him back into the car. But, meanwhile, the car itself was running away.
Faster and faster it rolled down the hill, and its course was so erratic that those in the first car almost held their breath. The expectation was that the big car would collide with a telegraph pole beside the road, or go into the ditch on the other side.
"Stop, Chet!" yelled Lance again.
But if Chet Belding stopped his car, he knew that the other might run them down. He dared not run that risk.
"Grab the wheel! Shut off the power! Brake her!" yelled Lance, wildly waving his arms at the crowd behind. "Some of you fellows do something!"
But the boy nearest to the steering gear of the big machine was Purt Sweet--and Purt scarcely knew enough about an automobile to keep from being run over by one!
"Oh!" cried Laura, "they will be hurt! There! it"s going to smash into that tree----"
But suddenly they saw one of the twins dive into the chauffeur"s seat.
She seized the wheel and guided the big machine into the straight road again. Then she manipulated the levers and quickly brought the shuddering car to a stop. The driver still lay motionless.
"Oh, oh!" cried Jess, hopping out of the Belding car when Chet stopped it, and running back. "She stopped it! You"re a real heroine--Dorothy--Dora--whichever one you are."
But the Lockwood twins looked at each other quickly and that understanding glance made the girl who had played the heroine say:
"It doesn"t matter which one of us did it, Jess. We"ll divide the heroic act between us. But let"s see what"s the matter with this poor man; he"s fainted, I believe."
CHAPTER X
BAKED IN A BISCUIT
There wasn"t a house in sight; but not far beyond was the inn at Robinson"s Woods, the picnic grounds, and Lance took the management of the big car while the unconscious chauffeur was rushed ahead by Chet in the Belding car. The man was put to bed at the inn and a physician sent for; but Lance agreed to drive the big car himself on to the Sitz place.
When the larger car reached the inn, however, another discovery was made. Even while the auto had followed its erratic course, untended, part way down the hill, Purt Sweet had sat tight and merely squealed. He had not offered to leave his seat.
But now, by the merest chance, he happened to look down at his waist.
The greater part of that beautiful crimson sash had disappeared!
"Wha--wha--what"s the matter with me?" gasped Purt. "I--I"ve lost it!
Who"s taken it?"
He bobbed up suddenly and broke the strand that had been, all this time, winding around and around the wheelbox until there was now a big roll of it.
"What"s the matter with you, Purt?" demanded one of the boys, bursting with laughter.
"Why--why--somebody"s stolen my sash!" wailed the youth. "Did you see it? Isn"t that a mean trick, now?"
The shout that went up from the girls and boys who had been watching the unraveling process brought the crowd from the first automobile back, too. Poor Purt looked ruefully at his lost sash, wound around the wheel, and bemoaned his bad fortune most feelingly. But Lance cut off the ball of red worsted and threw it in the gutter.
"I really wish you wouldn"t be so careless, Purt," he said, as though the victim were at fault. "Mussing up the whole machine with your fancy fixin"s. Don"t you do that any more."
"But, my dear boy, I had no idea of doing it--weally!" exclaimed the unfortunate Purt. "I don"t for the life of me see how that could have become attached to that wheel."
And as n.o.body explained the mystery to him, he was in low spirits all the rest of the way to the farmhouse.
But the preparations at the Sitz farm were likely to raise the spirits of any boy or girl. In the first place the farmhouse was a very pleasant old house indeed, and its big gra.s.sy yard, with shade trees and vines, was a delightful spot for an open-air party. Under the grape arbors, now in full leaf, long tables had been spread, and as soon as the automobiles arrived Eve called the girls to the back porch to help hull berries already picked, while Otto, her rather slow-witted brother, took the boys down to the strawberry patch to help pick more of the fruit.
Purt, who was greedy as could be, "picked into his mouth" until Chet and the other boys warned him that he"d be so full he would not be able to do justice to the berries and cream that would come later.
The big kitchen of the farmhouse was a scene of great activity, too.
Mother Sitz, who could scarcely speak a word of English, was happy in having the girls about, however; and she had made and frosted and decorated innumerable little cakes such as she had been used to in the old country. Eve put on a big ap.r.o.n and lent Laura one, and the two set about making the biscuit and the old-fashioned dough for the short-cakes.
Laura Belding was fond of Eve for the country girl"s own sake; but loyalty to Central High and Laura"s deep interest in school athletics caused her to cultivate the girl, too. There was a very good district school which Eve had attended, in which the teacher had brought her older scholars along to a point that enabled them to take the examinations for the Junior grade of the city schools. These examinations were to be held in Centerport within a fortnight, and Laura wished Eve to come to Central High in the Fall, instead of to the Keyport High, which was somewhat nearer to the Sitz place.
"You"ll have to take train to Keyport, anyway, Eve," urged her friend, while they were busy making the biscuits. "There is a better train stops at your station, bound for Centerport; and you can get out at the Hill Station and then it is only a five-minute walk to our school."
"I know, Laura," said the big girl. "But do you suppose I can pa.s.s?"
"Why not?"
"They say that Mr. Sharp is dreadfully _sharp_ on Latin, and that"s my weak point."
"Why, you can cram on Latin in a fortnight. I"ll tell you a book to get that will help--and it costs but fifty cents. You can begin right away on it----"
"But I haven"t got the book yet."
"You"ve got the fifty cents, haven"t you?" returned her friend.
"Yes."
"Then--what time does your rural delivery man go by the end of the road?"
Eve glanced at the big clock solemnly ticking on the wall.
"In about three-quarters of an hour."
"Run and write your letter to the Keyport bookseller. One of the boys will run out and give the letter to the mail carrier."
"But a fifty cent piece won"t be safe in a letter," said Eve, doubtfully.
"We--ell----"
"And I haven"t time to run out there and stop Mr. Cheever, and make out a money order--for fifty cents, too!" exclaimed Eve.
"Humph!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Laura. "There"s fifty ways of sending fifty cents----"