Ralph was very much excited, and this may have interfered a little with his efforts to get the car out of the garage in the least possible time. Still, he managed fairly well, though Rob was counting the seconds as never before, with all that riotous noise ringing in his ears, and calling for speedy action.
Presently the car came swinging into sight, with Ralph at the wheel. Rob made a flying leap and was quickly alongside the driver.
“Now hit it up for home, licketty-split, Ralph!” he called out as he fell back upon his seat in front.
“Good-bye, and good luck, fellows!” cried Tubby, warmly.
“Don’t meet with any accident, whatever you do!” added Sim, for the loss of the whole town did not count one-quarter so much in his estimation as would an injury to his beloved chum, Rob.
Then, with a series of loud snorts, very much after the style of a horse under whip and spurs, the big car darted away.
At first Ralph had to go comparatively slow, because of the fact that there were many people on the roads, scurrying this way and that, some of them bearing treasures in their arms snatched from household effects, under the impetus of their lively fears. Wagons and other vehicles too were encountered, but Ralph, being a clever driver, managed to swing around these.
He also kept punching the siren and making a series of staccato sounds such as you can hear whenever an ambulance, or the vehicle of a fire-chief dashes through the streets of your city or town in a sudden emergency.
So as a rule they were given a pretty decent right of way. People brushed aside even while not able to understand what right this car had to the road. Possibly it was accepted as an explanation that perhaps they were speeding for the next town to engage the fire department in the effort to save poor Wyoming.
Behind them lay the burning town. Rob looked back once and shuddered at what he saw, nor could he ever dismiss it wholly from his mind. Often in future nights, as he sat looking into a sparkling campfire, he would again see in imagination Wyoming burning, with the flames shooting high in the air, and myriads of flying sparks making it seem like a grand Fourth of July fireworks.