The water swished about the wheels as the car pushed forward, and Amy’s grip upon her chum tightened.
“In just about a minute we are due to stumble into a hole,” she said, and Jessie giggled.
“Cars don’t stumble,” she said. “They plunge. If you are not careful I will tell Miss Seymour on you.”
“O-oh, there we go!” gasped Amy, shutting her eyes as the water swished up higher about the wheels. “Let me know when it reaches my chin. I shan’t die without a struggle.”
“Silly, open your eyes,” laughed Jessie. “If you think you can drown in two feet of water, go ahead.”
Luckily for them, the opposite shore was not steep, and the big car took the ascent with ease. Miss Alling stopped the car long enough to make sure that the boys were following them safely, then turned about and headed back through the woods toward the roadway.
They were again on an old road running through the woods, but it was one seldom used and was filled with stumps and creeping vines, and they were once more forced to proceed at a crawl. But with the river successfully crossed, the girls did not chafe so much at the slow pace and were pleasantly surprised when at last the highway appeared through the trees.
Once upon this highway, they waited for the roadster to catch up to them. Somebody suggested that they have lunch before they went any further. The broken bridge had delayed them more than they realized, and Darry found upon consulting his watch that it was long past lunch time.
Miss Alling, however, insisted that they continue on for a few miles in an attempt to make up the time they had lost.
“We have a long way to go yet,” she reminded them. “And the last part of the trip is by far the harder. We turn off from the main highway several miles away from Forest Lodge, and the lake road is steep and rocky. I have no notion,” she ended decidedly, “of taking that road after dark.”