“It is not,” Miss Alling assured her, as the boys unfastened the rope that bound the two cars together. “As the stream becomes more shallow the river bed becomes more pebbly. I really think we won’t have any trouble getting across.”
The knots in the rope that had bound the two cars together had been drawn taut by the strain upon them and the unfastening of the knots required time and patience. Miss Alling insisted that the rope should not be cut.
“We never can tell when we may need the rope again,” she reminded them. “Better spend a little extra time just now than lose a good deal later on.”
At last the final knot was untied, the rope stowed away in the tonneau awaiting the next emergency, and they were ready for the start. In the meantime Darry had gone back and posted a warning on the road leading to the broken bridge.
“Where do we go from here, boys—or rather, Aunt Em?” queried Burd, as the boys climbed back into the roadster. “We let you take the lead before, and I suppose we shall have to again. Though I don’t know whether we should,” he added judicially, “after the place you led us to.”
“Better here than into the river,” retorted Miss Alling, and stepped on the starter.
It was necessary for them to proceed at a snail’s pace, for, though there were traces of an old wagon road following the banks of the stream at this point, the woodland was dense with vines and undergrowth, and the road was fairly overgrown with rank grass and bushes.
It seemed an endless time to the impatient girls before Miss Alling stopped the car and, pointing out toward the stream, declared that she was confident they would be able to cross it at that point.
They got out to have a closer look at the water, and Darry, having stopped his car a few feet behind them, joined them with Fol and Burd.
“All set for the big act?” asked Darry, and Miss Alling nodded thoughtfully. They had reached the water, and at the point where the stream encroached upon the shore it was only a few inches deep. Also, the bottom was, as Miss Alling had prophesied, hard and dotted with small boulders and rocks.