"I know what I should like to do," he added, readily. "I should like to break down that board that is in our way and go ahead whether they like it or not. Nothing would give me greater pleasure."
"However?" suggested Allen.
"However, I know we'd get pinched—pardon, ladies—I mean, pulled in. That doesn't sound just right, either, does it?" and he regarded them with laughing eyes.
"I imagine 'arrested' is the word you want," said Betty, demurely.
"That's it, thank you," he said, all irritability gone as suddenly as it had come. "So, as long as that is understood, perhaps we might do worse than follow Allen's suggestion, after all."
"Genius always triumphs in the end," said Allen, with a gravity that set them laughing.
"Perhaps it would be better if we hurried a little," Mrs. Irving suggested, when they had had their laugh out. "With no delay it would take us almost till sundown to reach The Shadows and I don't want to be too late."
"All right, here goes to try to back the old bus out of this mud-hole and turn her around," Frank agreed. "I don't know how long it will take us, though."
"You had better tell Roy what you are going to do," Grace suggested. "We don't want any collisions."
Frank obediently thrust out his head, only to jerk it back quickly the next instant with a startled exclamation. "They are gone!" he said.