FROM ONE HARDSHIP TO ANOTHER
"I guess I was right about the rain," remarked Phil, grimly, as the
drops pattered unceasingly on the cover of the automobile.
"You sure were, Phil!" cried Belle. "It's coming down just as hard as
ever it can."
"If only the wind would stop blowing!" said Jessie. "Do you think there
is any danger of our being blown over?"
"Oh, it isn't as bad as all that," answered Dave.
A few minutes later Mr. Porter espied a suitable place under several
large trees, and here he brought the touring-car to a standstill. Then
the Basswood car come close alongside.
"Going to put on the chains?" called out Mr. Basswood, to make himself
heard above the noise of the elements.
"I think we had better," returned Dave's uncle. "I imagine we've quite a
hill to descend a little farther on."
There were raincoats in each touring-car, and these were now donned by
Dave and his uncle, and by Ben and his father. Then the chains for the
back wheels for both automobiles were brought forth.
Even under the thick foliage of the trees the rain was coming down,
although of course not nearly as hard as on the roadway beyond. The
chains were straightened out on the grass, and each automobile was
backed up a little so that the articles might be fastened on. The task
took but a few minutes, and then those who had accomplished it got back
into the machines.
"I'll lead the way," called out Mr. Porter. "You had better not follow
me too closely."
"Very well, I'll watch out," answered Mr. Basswood.
"Uncle Dunston, don't you want to let me drive?" queried Dave. "I've had
a little more experience at it than you have had."
"I can do it, Dave," was the reply. "But, at the same time, if you think
it would be safer, take the wheel. I must own up that I'd rather be on a
horse or behind one than steering a car like this in such a storm."
Dave squeezed himself into the driver's seat, and a moment later they
were off again over the plateau of the hill, and then down the other
side.
The wind was blowing as furiously as ever, and now from a distance came
the low rumble of thunder.
"O dear! What is that?" cried Laura.
"I guess it was thunder, but I don't think it will amount to anything,"
returned Roger.
The bottom of the hill gained, they traversed a narrow valley for a
distance of seven or eight miles. Then came another climb over a winding
highway, which at certain points was filled with loose stones and dirt.
"Be careful, Dave. We don't want to do any skidding," cautioned the
youth's uncle.
"I'm watching out all I can," was the grim reply. Dave was bending over
the steering-wheel, trying his best to see through the windshield. "I
guess I'll have to open it a little," he went on, nodding in the
direction of the glass.
"I'll do it for you," answered Dunston Porter, and threw out the upper
side of the shield.
By this means Dave was able to get a clear vision of the roadway
directly in front of the machine. But the opening of the windshield let
in considerable of the driving rain.
"Oh, Dave, you'll get wet from the knees down!" cried Jessie,
solicitously.
"Can't help it," he replied. "I can't see with the windshield closed."
The rumblings of thunder had increased, and now from over a distant hill
came various streaks of lightning. The sky was much darker, and in order
to see better, Dave turned on the electric lights. Looking back, those
in the tonneau of the forward car saw that the Basswood machine was
also lighted. By the time the top of the next hill was gained, a
distance of fully a mile, the thunderstorm was on them in all its fury.
The wind tore through the woods, sending leaves and small branches
flying in all directions. From the north and the west came vivid flashes
of lightning, followed by sharp claps of thunder, which rolled and
rumbled across the hills and mountains.
"O dear, if we only had some place to stop!" cried Jessie, timorously.
"There isn't any sort of a building in sight," replied Dunston Porter,
who had been looking on all sides for some time. "If there was I'd have
Dave head for it pretty quick."
"According to the map we ought to be within a few miles of Simpson's
Corners," said Roger. "How about it, Dave?"
"Just what I was thinking," answered our hero. "I was wondering if it
wasn't on the other side of the next rise."
They were running along another small valley, at the end of which was a
sharp turn to the left and a rise of several hundred feet. Here the
downfall of rain had flooded the road for a considerable distance.
Coming to this place Dave had to slow down, but he still kept on some
power, not wishing to get stuck.
"Can you make it, Dave?" asked his uncle, anxiously, as the chains of
the automobile ground deeply into the mud and loose stones.
"We've got to make it, Uncle Dunston!" cried the boy, grimly.
The car proceeded more and more slowly even with the power turned on.
Dave had been running in second gear, but now he came down to low. Mud
and stones flew in all directions, while the water was splashed out on
both sides as if coming from geysers. Then, with one last effort, the
automobile left the level roadway and started up the hill beyond.
The Wadsworth car was almost at the top of the rise when a turn in the
road enabled its occupants to see the second car.
"Look!" burst out Roger. "I do believe they're stuck!"
"Stuck! Do you mean in that wet place?" asked Dave, quickly.
"That's it," put in Phil. "They are stuck just as sure as you're born!"
he added, a second later.
The forward car had now reached a spot on the side of the hill which was
comparatively level, so that Dave had no trouble in coming to a halt. It
was still raining as furiously as ever, and the thunder and lightning
were just as incessant. Looking down on the wet portion of the road
below them, they saw that the Basswood car was standing still, with
water and mud half way up to the hubs.
"He has shut off the power! That's no way to do!" cried Dave. "He ought
to keep his engine going, and either try to go forward or backward. If
he stands still he will sink deeper than ever."
"He's trying to back now, Dave," returned Phil, and he was right.
Soon they saw the wheels of the Basswood car revolving rapidly, and the
turnout itself moved slowly to the rear. Then Ben must have reversed the
power, for the car came forward, but this time headed for the left side
of the road.
"I don't think he'll gain much by that move," observed Dave. "I tried
it, and found it rather soft over there."
"Look, he is backing again!" cried Laura. "O dear! Whatever will he do
if he gets stuck fast?"
"Let us hope that nothing like that happens," answered her uncle,
gravely.
But that was just what did happen, and although both Ben and his father
did their best to free the car from the mud, it was without avail. They
managed to get to within fifteen feet of the end of the wet place, and
there they stayed, unable to budge either forward or backward.
"Listen! he is sounding his horn!" cried Roger, during a brief lull in
the storm.
"I guess he wants us to come back and help pull him out," answered Dave,
and sounded a reply to show that he had heard the call of distress.
"What are you going to do, Dave--try to turn around here or back down?"
asked Roger.
"Oh, it's too narrow to turn here!" cried Laura, in alarm.
"You'll have us all over in the ditch if you don't look out!" came from
one of the others in the car.
"I see a little wider spot further ahead," answered Dave, and turned on
the power once more.
Soon he had reached the place in question, and there, by skillful
maneuvering, he managed to turn the touring-car the other way. Then he
came down the hill slowly until within a few feet of the bad spot in the
highway.
"Hello there!" called out Mr. Basswood. "I guess you'll have to get out
that towing-rope again and give us a lift."
"Just what I thought," answered Dave. "We'll have it out in a jiffy."
He and his uncle alighted once more, taking with them the towing-rope
that had been used before. Mr. Basswood was already out of the car,
standing in water and mud over his shoe-tops.
"Here, catch the rope!" called out our hero, and sent one end whirling
toward the other car in true cowboy fashion--a trick he had learned
while staying at Star Ranch.
Mr. Basswood caught the rope, and soon had it adjusted to the front axle
of the car. In the meanwhile Dave and his uncle fastened the other end
to the rear axle of their own turnout.
"Now then, turn on your power when I sound my horn," directed Dave.
"Right you are!" yelled back Ben, who was at the wheel.
Mr. Porter remained on the ground to watch proceedings, while Dave
re-entered the Wadsworth machine and turned on the power. Then our hero
sounded the horn and began to advance. The towing-rope strained and
cracked, and threatened for a moment to snap. Slowly the Wadsworth car
went ahead inch by inch. The rear wheels of the Basswood machine churned
the water and mud furiously.
"Say! we don't seem to be getting out of this very fast," remarked
Shadow, who was in the rear car beside Mrs. Basswood.
"Put on all your power, Ben. It's the only thing you can do," ordered
the lad's father.
The rear wheels of the second machine ground deeper into the mud and
loose stones, throwing them and the water up into the air and even onto
the cover of the machine. The towing-rope continued to creak ominously.
"Be on guard, everybody, if that rope breaks!" cried Mr. Basswood,
warningly. He knew that if the towing-line parted near one end or the
other there was grave danger of the flying rope coming back to damage
one of the machines.
Inch by inch the second car moved forward. Dave had not dared to turn on
all power, fearing to snap the towing-line, but now, as the second
machine gained a little headway, he added power steadily.
"Hurrah! Here we come!" shouted Luke, in a tone of relief. And a few
seconds later the Basswood car rolled out of the water and mud to the
comparatively dry roadway ahead.
"Say, that was some stunt--to get out of there!" was Shadow's comment.
"I'm mighty glad the other car was here to help us," answered Ben. "If
it hadn't been here I guess we would have stayed there for a while," he
added, grimly.
"I think both our cars will need washing after this trip," observed
Dave, with a grin, as he coiled up the towing-line once more and stowed
it away.
"This sure is some ending to this trip!" observed Ben, making a wry
face.
"We haven't seen the end of it yet, Ben," answered Dunston Porter.
"There may be worse roads than this ahead. I don't believe they are very
good around Carpen Falls."
With the rain pelting down unceasingly, the two cars proceeded on the
journey. The thunder and lightning had let up a little, but now, as the
top of the next hill was gained, it seemed to become more violent than
before.
"Oh, this is dreadful!" cried Jessie, as a particularly bright flash lit
up the interior of the automobile. "What if we should be struck!"
"Let us hope that nothing like that happens!" answered Laura. Her face,
too, showed her alarm.
"I think I saw some sort of a village ahead," cried Dave, who had been
peering intently through the windshield. "I think I saw the white
steeple of a church."
"Maybe it's Simpson's Corners," suggested Belle.
"I hope there is a hotel there and a garage," said Dunston Porter.
"We'll want to have a chance to dry ourselves and get supper."
"Then you don't think we'll reach Carpen Falls to-night?" questioned
Phil.
"I don't know what to think, Phil. Perhaps we may----"
Mr. Porter did not finish what he was saying. Just at that instant came
a vivid flash of lightning that nearly blinded them. It was followed by
an ear-splitting crash of thunder. Then came another crash closer by,
and an instant later Dave and his uncle saw a large tree fall directly
toward the roadway in front of them!