Under the cheering influence of this feast even Bob Ward forgot his grudge of the morning, and when he shouted, “What’s the matter with Wilson?” the resulting “He’s all right!” almost lifted the roof off the old barn.
Soon they had finished and cleared away the meal, and when they opened the barn door were surprised and delighted to find that the sun had struggled through the clouds and was now shining brightly. Quickly they packed the tonneau, and were soon ready to start.
“All right, fellows, get to your places,” sang out Bert, and soon they were chugging out of the old barn that had offered them such timely shelter.
Once outside and fairly on the disused road, however, it soon became apparent that only with great difficulty could they make any progress at all. The rain had converted the road into a quagmire, and although Bert brought the “Red Scout” from third speed to second, and finally to first, he saw that they must soon stop altogether, and indeed this soon proved to be the case.
The faithful motor apparently had plenty of power, but the car sank into the mud up to its axles, and the rear wheels simply turned around without propelling it. Bert finally threw out the clutch and the “Red Scout” stopped as though he had applied the brakes, so great was the opposition formed by the mud.
“Well, this is a pretty fix, to be sure,” exclaimed Bert. “We’re going to have the time of our lives getting this machine out. What you need for this road is not so much an automobile as a boat. However, it wouldn’t speak well for us if we couldn’t get our car out of this scrape after all it has done for us, so let’s get busy.”
“That’s all very well,” said Jim, “but the question is, how are you going to do it? This isn’t exactly a flying machine, although it can go pretty fast, and it seems to me that we will need something like that to get us out of here.”
“Say, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, Jim Dawson,” exclaimed Tom, indignantly, “here you call yourself one of the crowd, and yet you are willing to give up before you have fairly begun to try. That isn’t the right spirit.”
“Oh, it’s easy enough to talk,” answered Jim, sulkily, “but I’d just like to know how you are going to do it, that’s all.”