He called without having any result. Then he shouted but the car was almost opposite him now. In another moment it had flown past and he had but one thing to do—to shoot at the tires. So he aimed and plugged a hind tire.
The girls heard the report of the pistol and the sound of the air escaping from the tire but Frances never slowed up. In a few moments the car was bumping on a flat tire but a swarm of bees had to be hived, and tires were a secondary consideration.
By the time the car reached Si Tompkins’ house the occupants were glad enough to get out. The way they were jolted and jammed during the latter end of that race was too much for human endurance. But Mrs. Tompkins was waiting with the hive, and now stood wondering why every one jumped out.
“Ma,” explained Hester, “you and a few of the scouts go on with the hive, while me and the rest of the girls will hitch up Spark to the surrey and drive over to the swarm.”
That was agreed upon, and the two elder Tompkins with a large hive got into the automobile with Mrs. James and Miss Mason. Frances drove, and they were safely out of the way before the deputy rode up on his motorcycle and asked the scouts, who were waiting for Hester and the surrey:
“Did you gals see a speed demon flyin’ past here a few minutes ago?”
“We never thought to look out for him. Which way did he come?” said Janet, innocently. The girls never dreamed that the officer was looking for their own car and party.
“It don’t matter what way he come but I wants to know which way he went!” snapped the man. Had he been more polite he might have discovered that these girls had just come the way he came and he would have found that they were his quarry.
Hester now drove Spark out of the barn yard lane and called to her friends: “Hurry up girls, or we’ll miss the swarm.”
While the scouts were crowding into the three-seated surrey Hester said “How-de-do” to the man she knew, and then they drove away, leaving the officer baffled to find that the car with a flat tire had escaped him.