They fairly flew.
"Say, makes me think I was on my little Humming Bird, right now!" shouted Lanky; for the wheels of the car were making more or less noise upon the frozen surface of the road, so that speaking in an ordinary voice was next to impossible.
Frank did not dare turn to look at him while going at this forty miles an hour speed; but he allowed his form to shake as if with silent laughter.
"I bet you she goes better than this old machine ever could, and you can say what you please," observed Lanky, standing up stoutly for the prized product of his hands and brain.
Had it been summer and the road in first-class condition Frank would have raised his machine to top-notch speed; but he had already reached the limit of safety under the circumstances, and was not to be tempted to hasten faster. He imagined that Lanky, in his impatience to get to the farmhouse the sooner, was only nagging him on for a purpose.
"We're getting there, all right," the eager one finally said, as, having crossed the narrow river by means of a bridge they once more headed north.
"Given five minutes more and we'll arrive. What are you craning your neck for, in that way, Lanky? Think you see smoke again?" demanded Frank, as he felt the other thrusting his head close to his shoulder.
"Oh! shucks! no. I just wanted to get the first squint of the house on the little hill," replied the other.
"He's even got his handkerchief ready to wave," asserted Ralph.
"Bless his innocent little heart, does he suppose that poor girl has been standing there all this time watching for his return?" jeered the driver.