“Quick--put your shoulder to the wheel and we may save it!”
Plum did spring forward to help his friend, but even he was too late to be of any avail, while the Peruvians stood idle, without offering to move.
While the united strength of all might have stopped the wagon, Jack’s resistance was futile, and in a moment the loaded vehicle started on its downward course, soon gaining a momentum that nothing could stop.
Faster and faster it moved, the wheels creaking and groaning unanimously, as it gained in speed.
The drivers of the other team in the pathway below uttered wild cries of terror, as they saw their danger, and began to scramble helter-skelter up the mountain side.
The runaway was going directly upon them, but they were likely to escape.
Not so with the oxen and wagon, which seemed surely doomed.
Jack saw at a glance his whole work going to naught in a moment’s time.
Then his presence of mind returned to him and he thought he saw a way to avert a part of the loss.
Bounding down the pathway after the runaway, he soon managed to catch hold of the tongue, which was dodging swiftly from one side to the other of the path, according as it was swung to and fro by the motion of the forward wheels.