Just then the gate of a near-by farmhouse was pushed open, and a little child about three years old toddled out into the road, right in the path of the onrushing car.
A shriek went up from the girls.
“Oh, girls,” screamed Bess, rising from her seat, “that child will be killed!”
CHAPTER II
QUICK THINKING
For one tense moment it seemed as though nothing could avert a terrible tragedy.
A woman burst out of the house and ran screaming toward her child. But it was clearly impossible for her to reach the little one in time to save it.
The child, startled by the screams, stood helplessly right in the path of the Juggernaut that seemed doomed to crush it.
The driver of the car had seen the danger, and he instantly threw out the clutch and put on the brakes. But he was too near to stop in time.
There was only one thing to do, and, like a gallant man, he did it. He whirled the wheel around, and the car, its speed diminished but still considerable, dashed into a tree by the side of the road. The driver, an elderly man, was thrown out and lay stunned and bleeding.
The mother rushed to the little one and gathered it up into her arms with sobs and exclamations.