THE WIND VEERS
The car purred along so easily and it was such a delight to manage the
wheel without the interference of the chauffeur that Hester did not
note the distance she traveled. Nor was she at first aware of the
speed. Then she suddenly realized that she had shifted the gear to the
highest speed forward, and that a picket fence she passed was merely a
blur along the roadside.
But this was a road on which there were few houses, and most of them
were back in the fields, in the middle of the farms that bordered the
pike.
"This will never do," thought Hester, and she began to manipulate the
levers and finally brought the car to a stop. The roadway was narrow
and she would have to back to turn. But this was one of the very
things she desired to learn how to do; and that officious Joseph was
always fussing when he was beside her.
"How many miles have I come, I wonder?" she asked herself, looking
about.
She was on a ridge of land overlooking a narrow valley. At the end of
the valley the road seemed to dip from the ridge, and it disappeared
in a thick haze of blue smoke.
"The fire must be over that way," she thought. "Shall I run that far
and see what it means? The wind is not blowing toward me."
She started the car once more. The auto rolled on, but she noticed
that it wasn't firing regularly.
"Hullo! Is it going to kick up rusty now and here?" muttered Hester,
and she stopped. Having learned that much, she opened the carburetor
to see if the gasoline was flowing all right. Then she tried a dozen
times to start the car, without success. Suddenly she stood up with a
jerk. In the distance she heard a growing roar--the oncoming rush of a
powerful car.
Fortunately she had stopped on the side of the road. There was room
for another car to pass. And out of the blue smoke ahead it appeared
with startling suddenness, hurled like a missile from a gun directly
up the road toward her.
She knew the car almost instantly. It was the Beldings' auto and it
was crowded with young folk. She knew where they had been. The next
week the girls of Central High had been invited to Keyport to play the
first team at basketball of the High School in that town.
Hester had heard all about the game the day before with the West High
girls. With Roberta Fish in Hester's old position at forward center,
the girls of Central High had swept all before them. They had beaten
their opponents with a good lead. Of course, the West High team was
not as strong as the East High had been; but Roberta had done well and
victory had, for the first time in months, perched upon the banner of
Central High.
A committee had been appointed to go over and see the Keyport
managers, and now it was returning. The big car was driven by Chet
Belding, with Launcelot Darby beside him. Laura, Jess, Bobby, Nellie,
and the Lockwood twins filled the tonneau comfortably.
Hester hoped that the Belding car would wheel right by and that her
school fellows would not notice her. But Chet saw the car stalled, and
Laura's quick eye detected the lone girl standing with her back to
them, looking off across the valley.
"What's the matter with that girl and her car?" demanded Lance, as
Chet slowed down.
"It's Hester. Mr. Grimes has bought a car at last, I understand," said
Laura, leaning over the back of the seat and speaking to the boys. "Is
she in trouble, do you think?"
"I'll bet she is!" exclaimed Lance.
"And out on this road alone. Where's the chauffeur?" said Chet.
"And if the wind should change!" cried Nellie Agnew.
"By Jove, that's so!" ejaculated Chet, bringing his car to a full stop
right beside the stalled auto.
"Hullo, Miss Grimes!" he sang out. "Can we help you? What's the matter
with your car?"
Hester saw it was useless to refuse to see them then. Besides, she did
not want to be stalled there for hours.
"That's what I've been trying to find out," she said, pointedly
speaking to the boy, not to the girls.
"Great machines," drawled Lance. "When you think you know all about
'em they kick up and give you a lot of trouble. Isn't that so, Chet?"
Chet was getting from under the wheel, and grunted. But Laura hopped
out before him, came to Hester's side of the car, and asked:
"Did it stop of itself?"
"No. It wasn't firing regularly. I looked at the carburetor to see if
it was all right. Then I tried to start her and couldn't," said
Hester, ungraciously.
Laura was going over the wiring to see if there were no loose contacts
before Chet came to them. She turned the fly wheel far enough to get
the buzz of the spark coils.
"Go ahead, Sis!" chuckled Chet. "You know so much you'll be taking our
old mill to pieces pretty soon, I reckon."
Hester stood by and bit her lip with vexation. She was almost on the
point of driving Laura away from the car, rather than have her
enemy--for so she considered Mother Wit--help her out of her trouble.
But night was coming on and she did not want to stand there much
longer, if the car could be started.
Laura removed a plug, grounded it on a cylinder and turned the wheel
to a sparking point to note the quality of the spark and the strength
of the battery. Then she ticked the carburetor and opened the small
cock at the bottom.
"You're getting your gloves all messy, Laura!" called Jess from the
other car.
"Hush!" commanded Chet, grinning, and holding up his hand. "Do not
disturb the priestess of automobiling at her devotions. There will be
something 'didding' in a minute--now watch."
But Laura was serious--and interested. She closed the cock and felt
along the gasoline pipe to the valve rod. This seemed to interest her
particularly. In a moment she straightened up and stood back, saying
to Hester:
"You try the engine. Maybe she'll work now."
Hester scrambled into her seat and tried the starter. The engine began
to buzz like a saw-mill.
"Great Scott, Laura!" cried her brother. "What did you do to it?"
"Turned on the gasoline," said his sister, drily. "When Hester looked
at her carburetor she turned it off. No wonder the engine wouldn't
run."
"Thanks," muttered Hester, in a choked tone, while the crowd in the
other auto smothered their laughter, and she prepared to start the car
when Chet should have stepped aside.
"Hold on!" said young Belding. "This isn't any way to be traveling,
Miss Hester."
"Why not?" she snapped at him, for the situation was getting on her
nerves now.
"The wind is likely to change. If it veers around it will drive the
fire directly up this road," said Chet.
"What's burning?" demanded the girl, sharply.
"The whole forest back yonder through the cut. We came through a big
cloud of smoke."
"If you got through I guess I can," Hester said, ungratefully, and the
next moment started her car, which rolled swiftly away along the
turnpike.
The fact was, she did not want to try to turn the machine while they
were watching her. She knew she should be awkward about it. And Laura
Belding had displayed her superiority over her once already--and that
was enough!
The big car purred again joyously, and the roadway slipped behind like
a ribbon running over a spool. In half a minute Hester and her car had
dipped into the valley and were running through the cut between the
hills. The Belding car was out of sight.
But suddenly she became aware that the smoke was thick here. This deep
cut was filled with it. And the fumes were not only choking; there was
heat with the smoke.
A shift of wind drove a thick cloud out of the forest and she had to
shut her eyes. This was dangerous work. She knew better than to try to
run the car on high speed when she could not see twenty feet beyond
it.
When she reduced speed she was cognizant of a roaring sound from the
forest. For a moment she thought a big wind was coming.
Then she knew better. It was the fire. Not far away the flames were
devouring the forest hungrily--and the wind was behind the flames!
There must have already been a change in the air-current, as Chet had
prophesied. The forest fire was driving right into this narrow cut
between the hills. To be caught here by the flames would not only mean
the finish of this brand new car, but Hester knew that there would be
no escape for her from such a situation.