CHAPTER XIII
ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT
Jerry had instinctively jammed on both the foot and the hand emergencybrake as he felt the big car slipping. It came as natural to do this asit does to one to put out his hands when he is falling. Jerry had beenin too many tight places not to know what to do when confronted withsudden danger.
And the brake bands had not ceased their shrill squeaking, which couldbe heard above the roar of the storm, before Ned and Bob yelled inchorus:
“Hold her, Jerry!”
“I am holding her,” was the grim response. “And don’t you fellows movetoo suddenly, or we’ll go over. Get out as easily as you can while thegetting’s good!”
“What--what happened?” panted Bob, between thunder claps, as he peeredahead to see by the intermittent lightning what their position was.
“She’s almost over the brink--that’s what happened,” answered Jerry. “Idon’t know whether she’s going to stay here or not. Get out, while youcan, and we’ll decide what to do.”
“We’ve got a rope and a pulley,” volunteered Ned. “We may be able tohaul her back on the road.”
“The first thing is to get out and save ourselves,” were Jerry’snext words. “Then we can talk about what to do. Open the side doorscarefully, fellows, and step out as lightly as you can. The least jarmay send her over.”
It was a perilous position, but the boys kept their heads. Jerryremained at the wheel, his hands gripping the wooden rim as though hisvery grasp could hold the ponderous car from slipping into the chasmrevealed by the lightning flashes.
Then Ned on his side, and Bob on his, cautiously opened the doors ofthe tonneau, and stepped down. As soon as they were out from under theshelter of the canopy they were drenched by the pelting rain that stungtheir faces.
“All right?” asked Jerry, from his seat.
“All right,” replied Ned.
“Get some stones, then, to block the rear wheels,” directed the talllad.
“Aren’t you going to get out?” asked Bob.
“That’s what I am,” was the reply. “I wanted to wait until you fellowswere out, though. Too much motion at once might start her over theedge.”
And, not until then did it occur to Bob and Ned what an act of heroismJerry had performed in staying in his place until they were safe.
He might have leaped at the first intimation of danger, for he was ina position to do this more easily than either of his chums. But he hadstuck to his post, doing what he could to hold the car in place, untilthe others were out of danger.
Bob and Ned said nothing at the time. But later they gave Jerry tounderstand that they appreciated his pluck and self-sacrifice, thoughthe latter was not fully consummated. But it was characteristic ofJerry Hopkins.
“Whew! How it rains!” exclaimed Bob.
“Don’t talk--get some stones and block the wheels, Chunky!” directedNed.
By this time Jerry, yanking back the emergency brake lever to the lastpossible notch, in order to keep the car from slipping, cautiously madehis way to the side of his chums. Bob and Ned had managed to find, bythe lightning flashes, two large rocks, which were wedged in front ofeach of the rear wheels.
“I guess that’ll hold her,” remarked Jerry, with a sigh of relief.
“How did it happen?” asked Bob.
“Why, I didn’t know about that sharp turn,” replied Jerry, “and Ididn’t swing her around soon enough. She went right through that guardrail--it doesn’t amount to a toothpick, anyhow--and I got the brakes onher just in time. The lightning showed me where I was going. Otherwisewe’d be down there at the bottom of the gulch, and----”
“Don’t talk about it!” begged Ned, with an involuntary shudder. “It’stoo horrible!”
For a moment the three motor boys stood in the storm, their faces, eachtime it lightened, showing the fear they felt at their narrow escape.
Then Bob spoke.
“What are we going to do?” he asked. “We can’t stay here all night inthis rain.”
“I don’t see what else we’re going to do,” Jerry answered. “We don’twant to desert the car, and we don’t want to go to sleep in her. Shemight come loose any moment. Guess we’ll have to camp out here, andmake the best of it. ’Twon’t be the first time we’ve roughed it.”
“No, but I don’t see any necessity for it,” spoke Ned. “We have astrong rope in the tool box--a wire cable--and we can take a turn aboutthe rear axle with that, and fasten it to a tree. Then the car can’tslide over, especially if we put plenty of blocking stones in front ofthe wheels. In fact we could brace the car up enough so that it wouldbe safe to stay in her.”
“Hardly that,” said Jerry. “We’d have a nightmare, give a jump andstart her going, I’m thinking. But maybe we can fasten it with the wirerope so that she will be safe until morning. Let’s try, anyhow. Thenwe can take the robes, and our raincoats, and make a sort of shelterin the woods. If we only had something to eat it wouldn’t be so bad. Iwonder if we could find a place where we could get a bite?”
“I--I’ve got some lunch stowed away,” said Bob, half apologetically,as though he feared being censured. “I thought maybe we’d get hungrybefore supper, so I brought along some grub, and there’s a vacuumbottle of coffee with it. That ought to be hot.”
“Chunky, you’re a bird!” cried Ned. “Never again will I rig you aboutthe eats. Lead me to ’em!”
“Fix the car first!” ordered Jerry. “We can’t take any chances withthat.”
Working cautiously, so as not to jar the automobile, and start it overthe brink, the boys, disregarding the drenching rain, got out thethin wire rope, which they carried in case they might need a tow, andfastened it to the rear axle and then to a big tree, pulling the cabletaut.
“That ought to hold her,” said Jerry. “But we’ll pile some more stonesin front of the wheels.”
Not until this was done, and the car made as secure as possible, didthe boys get their raincoats and blankets from the space under theseats. By this time they were pretty well drenched. But the night wasa warm one, and their condition was not as unpleasant as it mightotherwise have been.
“Now for the eats!” cried Ned. “Pile ’em out, Bob.”
With some of the auto robes they made a rude sort of shelter among thetrees, and one of the oil lamps, carried on the car for emergency, madethe place a little light. The red tail lamp of the auto was sufficientto warn other travelers that the road was partly blocked.
“Though I don’t believe anyone will come up here in this storm,”remarked Jerry.
The hot coffee from the vacuum bottle, and the sandwiches which Bob hadprovided, made them all feel better.
“Though it’s no fun to stand all this drenching,” said Ned. “Now thatthe car is safe I vote we go up or down the road and see if we can’tfind a hotel or some place to stay the rest of the night.”
“No,” said Jerry, “we’d better stay here, near the car. No telling whatmight happen.”
“Then what’s the matter with getting in the car?” asked Bob. “Thecanopy will shelter us.”
“No,” again said the tall lad, “it’s too risky. The chances are thatthe car won’t go over, but I’m not going to take the one chance thatmight be against us. It won’t be long until morning, and then we cansee what needs to be done.”
But the wet night was miserable enough for all of them. Their sheltergave little protection against the downpour which kept up until nearlymorning, and they were tired and cramped from the positions they had tooccupy. But no one found much fault, though all were glad when a faintlight in the east told of the coming of the dawn.
As soon as it was light enough to see, they inspected the position ofthe car. It was perilous enough, and the rising sun showed how nearthey had come to going over the brink.
“Can we pull her back?” asked Ned.
But they could not move the machine, which had settled in the mud.
“It’ll take a team of horses
,” decided Jerry. “Now that we can see thecar isn’t in any danger of going over, we can go for help.”
“One of us had better stay,” suggested Ned.
Making sure that the car would not slip, Bob and Jerry started down theroad, intending to hire a team from the nearest farmer. Ned was left onguard.
The appearance of Bob and Jerry, from having camped out in the rainall night, was not very prepossessing, and the farmer’s wife, to whomthey applied for horses, looked at them askance. But the sight of somebills in Jerry’s hand changed her rather glum face to a smiling one,and the farmer, returning from his early milking, readily agreed totake his team and haul the auto back to the road.
“And while we’re here, hadn’t we better eat?” suggested Bob, in awhisper to Jerry. “We can take Ned back some grub, too.”
Fortified by a substantial meal, the boys could look on their adventurewith better spirits now. Ned was grateful for his portion, and withthe help of the farmer and his horses the car was soon back on thehighway. No damage had been done to it, and, after paying the man forhis services, the boys were soon under way again.
A little later they entered the driveway of the home of ProfessorSnodgrass, having stopped at a hotel on the way for a wash and changeof clothes, which garments they carried with them.
“The professor? No, he isn’t here,” replied the housekeeper, after shehad greeted the boys, whom she knew well. “He hasn’t been here since hewent to Cresville.”
“But where is he?” asked Jerry, quickly.
“He’s somewhere in the Maine mountains,” was the answer. “He’s after atwo-tailed lizard, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back.”