Then the conversation ran into other channels, and Curtis, busy with the great machine and the innumerable levers which made it do this or do that or do the other, dropped out of it. Reid and Miss Melrose talked on, but the whirr of the car as it gained speed made talking unsatisfactory and finally the girl gave herself up to the pure delight of high speed; a dangerous pleasure which sets the nerves atingle and makes one greedy for more.
"Do you smell gasoline?" Curtis asked suddenly, turning to the others.
"Believe I do," said Reid.
"Confound it! If I've sprung a leak in my tank it will be the deuce," Curtis growled amiably.
"Do you think you've got enough to get to the inn?" asked Miss Melrose. "It can't be more than five or six miles now."
"I'll run on until we stop," said Curtis. "We might be able to stir up some along here somewhere. I suppose they are prepared for autos."
At last lights showed ahead, many lights glimmering through the trees.
"I suppose that's the inn now," said Curtis. "Is it?" he asked of the girl.
"Really, I don't know, but I have an impression that it isn't. The one I mean seems farther out than this and it seems to me we passed one on the way. However, I don't remember very well."
"We'll stop and get some gasoline, anyhow," said Curtis.