“At any rate, we’ve lost him,” Mr. Hatfield declared. “Hello—what’s this up ahead?”
The car approached a railroad underpass. In the depressed area beneath the archway, surface water had failed to run off. The flooded area stretched for a considerable distance ahead.
“It doesn’t look very deep,” Mr. Hatfield said, weighing their chances of getting through. “Think we can make it?”
“If we don’t, you have three good pushers,” Brad answered. “Anyway, here comes another car.”
“They’re going to try it, so I guess we can,” added Dan.
The approaching coupe, in which two persons were visible, barely slackened pace as it came to the area of water.
Noticing that the flood seemed only hub-cap high, Mr. Hatfield likewise started through it.
A moment later, however, he noted that the water rapidly was deepening on the car ahead. It began to falter, and finally came to a standstill.
“Stalled!” Fred exclaimed in dismay.
“And we’re blocked,” added Brad. “Think we can back out of it?”