Penny stepped on the starter and to her relief the motor caught instantly. In great haste she turned the car around, circling away from the inrushing sea.
“Careful!” Louise warned. “The sand is dreadfully soft this far up shore.”
Too late Penny realized the same thing. She could feel the car starting to bog down. The motor began to labor. Then the car stalled completely.
“We’re stuck!” she gasped.
Both girls sprang out to look at the wheels. Their spirits sank. On one side, front and rear tires were bogged deep in sand.
“Start the engine again!” Louise urged desperately. “I’ll try to push.”
Penny obeyed, but her chum’s puny strength made not the slightest impression upon the car. It could not be moved a foot. The spinning wheels only drove deeper and deeper into the sand.
“What shall we do?” Louise asked helplessly. She turned to stare at the incoming sea. Each wave was breaking a little closer to the car.
“This place will be under in another twenty minutes,” Penny calculated. “Even if the car isn’t washed away, the salt water will ruin it. How did we ever get into such a mess?”
“Just by being careless. If only we weren’t so far from the hotel!”