A MOMENT OF PERIL
"This is the life!"
"That's right, Tom. This kind of touring suits me to death," returned
Sam Rover.
"Tom, how many miles an hour are you making?" broke in his wife.
"Remember what you promised me--that you would keep within the limit of
the law."
"And that is just what I am doing, Nellie," he answered. "But it's
mighty hard to do it, believe me, when you are at the wheel of such a
fine auto as this. Why, I could send her ahead twice as fast if I wanted
to!"
"Don't you dare!" burst out Grace, who sat in the tonneau beside her
sister. "If you do I'll make you let Sam drive."
"He's got to let me drive anyway after dinner," said the youngest Rover
boy. "That's the arrangement."
It was the second day of the tour, and Valley Brook Farm, and in fact
the whole central portion of New York State, had been left far behind.
The weather had turned out perfect, and so far they had encountered very
little in the way of bad roads. Once they had had to make a detour of
two miles on account of a new bridge being built, but otherwise they had
forged straight ahead.
Tom and his wife, with Grace and Sam, occupied the first automobile, the
remaining space in the roomy tonneau being taken up by various suitcases
and other baggage. Behind this car came the one driven by Dick Rover.
Beside him was his wife, with Mrs. Stanhope and Mrs. Laning behind them.
Some distance to the rear was the third machine, a brand-new runabout,
containing Chester Waltham and his sister Ada. Waltham had at first
wished to take the lead, but had then dropped behind, stating he did not
wish to get the others to follow him on any wrong road.
"You go ahead," he had said to the Rovers. "Then if you go wrong you
will have only yourselves to blame."
"Well, we don't know any more about these roads than you do, Waltham,"
Dick had replied. "We are simply going by the guide book and the signs."
"I hate to use up my brains studying an automobile guide," Chester
Waltham had returned with a yawn. "When I am on an outing I like to take
it just as easy as I possibly can."
"It's a wonder you didn't bring a paid chauffeur along," had been Sam's
comment.
"I thought something of doing that, but my sister objected. She said if
she was to go along I must run the car. You see, she wants me to risk my
neck as well as her own," and the young millionaire had smiled grimly.
They had been running for several miles over a road that was
comparatively straight. On either side were tidy farms, with occasional
farmhouses and barns. Now, however, the road became winding, and they
soon passed into a patch of timber.
"Four miles to the next town," announced Sam, as they rolled past a
signboard. He looked at his watch. "Quarter after eleven. Do you think
we had better stop there for dinner, Tom?"
"No, we are going on to Fernwood, six miles farther," was the reply.
"They say the hotel there is much better. And, believe me, when you get
away from the big cities the best hotel you can find in a town is none
too good."
It had been rather warm on the open road, and all those in the
automobiles welcomed the shade of the woods.
"It's a pity we didn't bring our lunch along," said Dora to Dick, as
they moved along at a slower rate of speed. "We could have had a good
time picnicking along here."
"Yes, we'll have to dine out in the woods sometimes on this trip," put
in Mrs. Laning. "I like that sort of thing much better than taking all
our meals in hotels or restaurants."
The first automobile had reached a spring by the roadside, and here Tom
came to a halt, presently followed by the others. Collapsible cups were
handy, and all were ready for a drink of the pure, cool water which the
spring afforded.
"Fine! isn't it?" exclaimed Dick, after the ladies had been served and
he had had a cupful himself.
"You're right," answered Tom. "A good deal better than that bottled
water we have down in the New York offices."
"But it can't beat the water on the farm," said Sam. "I must say no
matter where I go the water doesn't taste quite as good as that at
Valley Brook."
"Oh, that's only sentiment, Sam!" cried Grace. "Now, I think the water
at Cedarville is just lovely."
"I think you are taking a little chance in drinking from a spring like
this," was Chester Waltham's comment. "It may be pure, and then again it
may be full of all sorts of germs."
"Sure! it may be full of tadpoles and bullfrogs, too," added Tom, gaily.
"But you've got to take some chances in this life, as the fly said when
he flew down into the molasses jug and got stuck there," and at this
little joke there was a general smile.
Beyond the spring the road went uphill for a long distance, and then
took a turn to the southward, past more farms and over a bridge spanning
a tiny stream. Then they came to a small town, looking dry, dusty and
almost deserted in the midday, summer sun.
"I am glad we didn't arrange to stop here," was Nellie's comment, as she
glanced around.
The sleepy little town was soon left behind, and once again they found
themselves passing over a series of hills, dotted here and there with
farms and patches of woodland. Then they came to a place which was very
uneven and filled with rocks.
"Got to be careful here unless we want to get a puncture," announced
Tom, and at once reduced speed.
They were running on another winding road which seemed to bear off to
the northward. Here there was something of a cliff, with great, rocky
boulders standing out in bold relief.
Suddenly, as Tom reached a bend, he saw a man coming towards them. He
was an Italian, and carried a small red flag in one hand.
"Back! You-a git-a back!" cried the man, waving his red flag at them.
"Blas'! Blas'! You git-a back!"
The grade was downward and the man had appeared so suddenly that before
Tom could bring the first automobile to a standstill he had gotten at
least a hundred feet beyond the Italian, while the second car, run by
Dick, was by the man's side.
"What's the trouble here?" demanded Dick.
"You git-a back! You git-a back!" exclaimed the Italian, frantically.
"Blas' go off! You git-a back!"
"Hi, Tom, come back here!" yelled Dick. "This fellow says there is a
blast going off."
Tom was already trying to heed the warning. He had stopped so suddenly,
however, that he had stalled his engine and now he had to take time in
which to use the electric starter. In the meanwhile, the Italian workman
ran still farther back, to warn Chester Waltham and anybody else who
might be coming along the road.
"Oh, Tom! can you turn around?" questioned his wife anxiously.
"Maybe you had better run the car backward," suggested Sam. He had noted
the narrowness of the roadway and knew it would be no easy matter to
turn around in such limited space. Besides that, there was a deep gully
on one side, so that they would run the risk of overturning.
"Yes, I'll back if Dick will only give me room," muttered Tom, as he
pressed the lever of the self-starter. Then after the power was once
more generated he threw in the reverse gear and allowed the car to back
up.
"That's the way to do it, Tom," yelled Dick. "Come on, I'll get out of
the way," and he, too, began to back until he was close on to the
Waltham runabout.
"Look out! Don't bump into me!" yelled Chester Waltham, who for the
moment seemed to be completely bewildered by what was taking place.
"What's the matter anyway?" he demanded of the Italian.
"Oh, Chester, there must be some danger!" shrieked his sister. "Say!
they are both backing up. Maybe you had better back up too."
"All right, if that's what they want," answered the young millionaire,
and then in his hurry tried to reverse so quickly that he, too, stalled
his engine.
"Back up! Back up!" called out Dick. "We've got to get out of here!
There is some sort of blasting going on ahead!"
"Oh, Dick, be careful!" cried Mrs. Stanhope, and sprang up in the
tonneau of the car in alarm, quickly followed by Mrs. Laning.
"You will run into Mr. Waltham, sure!" wailed the latter.
"Don't smash into me! Don't smash into me!" yelled the young millionaire
in sudden terror. "If you bump into me you'll send me into the ditch!"
By this time Dick's car was less than three feet away from the runabout,
while Tom's machine was still some distance farther up the road.
Boom! There was a distant explosion, not very loud; and following this
came a clatter as of stones falling on the rocks. None of the stones,
however, fell anywhere near the three machines.
"Oh!" cried Grace.
"Is that all there is to it?" queried Nellie, anxiously.
"I don't know," returned Tom. He had now brought his automobile once
more to a standstill.
All in the three machines waited for a moment. Then they gazed
enquiringly at the Italian who stood behind them.
"Say, is that all the blasting there is?" demanded Chester Waltham.
"Dat's heem," responded the foreigner. "He go off all right, boss. You
go," and he waved the stick of his flag for them to proceed.
"Some scare--and all for nothing," muttered Tom. "The way he carried on
you would think they were going to shake down half of yonder cliff."
"Oh, Tom, they don't dare to take chances," returned Nellie. "Why, if we
had gone on we might have been showered with those stones we heard
falling."
"You fellows want to be careful how you back up," grumbled Chester
Waltham. "You came pretty close to smashing into me."
"Well, you should have backed up yourself when you heard us yell,"
retorted Dick, sharply. "We didn't know how bad that blast was going to
be."
Tom had already started forward, and in a moment more Dick and Chester
Waltham followed. But hardly had they done this when the Italian on the
road suddenly let out another yell.
"Boss! Boss! You-a stop!" he cried. "You-a stop queek! De two-a blas'!
You-a stop!" and he danced up and down in added alarm.
Those who had gone on paid no attention to him, and an instant later
passed around a corner of the cliff. As they did this they saw a man on
the open hillside waving his arm and shouting something they could not
understand.
"Tom, something is wrong----" began Sam, when, of a sudden, his words
were swallowed up in a fierce roar and rumble that seemed to shake the
very ground beneath them. They saw a flash of fire in an opening of the
cliff, and the next instant a burst of flames and smoke was followed by
a rain of rocks all around them!