"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.