"It's a runaway!"
"Serves old Crabby right, for hitting the horse!"
"Yes, but he and the lady may be killed!"
Such were some of the cries. As soon as they could recover, the whole party made after the carriage, now disappearing around a bend.
"They'll never get around the next turn alive!" said Captain Harry
Blossom, who was running beside Tom. Soon Dick joined the pair.
In the meantime Josiah Crabtree was filled with terror over the sudden turn of affairs. He dropped the whip and tugged first at one rein and then the other.
"Whoa! whoa!" he cried in a hoarse whisper. "Whoa!"
But instead of slackening their speed, the team moved on faster than ever, the carriage rocking violently from side to side.
"We will be killed!" moaned Mrs. Stanhope. "Oh, why did I not take Dora's advice and have a regular wedding, as she proposed!"
"I will—will stop them!" panted Crabtree. "Whoa, you brutes, whoa!"