This advice was followed, and they traveled over the bad road until a crossroad was reached. There was no mention made of this spot on the road-map, and there was no signpost to direct a lost tourist. So the Captain said, "We'll take the right-hand turn, it looks best."
Further on, the road descended and ran close to a river. "Dear me, I hope we didn't take the wrong turn, anyway!" cried Mrs. Vernon. "That officer never told me about a crossroad."
"And it's going to pour, too. Just look at that black cloud," said Joan.
"It hasn't thundered yet," Hester said, trying to be cheerful.
At the same moment a flash satisfied every one that a shower was imminent, and Jim failed to relieve their fears when he said, "We don't want to get caught on this low land when it rains. The road is lower than the river and will soon be flooded over."
That spurred on the Captain, and she made the car fairly fly, in order to reach higher ground before the shower came. But the storm won out.
"I felt a drop of rain!" called Julie.
"So did I—two drops more!" seconded Ruth.
"We'd better stop to button down the rain-curtains, Captain," advised Jim.
"Maybe we can reach high ground soon, Jim!" called back Mrs. Vernon, still speeding along the marshy road.