“I’d like to.”
But when they ran their car out to the front of the Carpenter House, several of the contestants had already gotten under way, and among them was Burton Poole’s machine. The big automobile crowded with students accompanied it out of town. Number seven had nearly half an hour’s start of the Speedwells’ car.
But the Breton-Melville ran very easily. No cars passed the boys for the first five miles. Then they saw a cloud of dust ahead and realized that they were catching up with the students—and probably Poole’s car.
The six-seated observation car could not run very fast, and it was so broad and heavy that it occupied more than a fair share of the road. Dan and Billy could not see beyond this elephantine car, and did not know how near number seven was.
The road was good and their motor had been running very nicely. As the big car, with its cheering crowd, continued to fill the road, Dan was obliged to pull down a little.
“Hoot again,” said Billy. “We want to get by. If Chance and Burton want to play horse along the way, let them. We’re out for the gold cup.”
At that moment an auto came up behind them and slid by swiftly. It was number twelve. When this car came up with the big omnibus, one of the students on the back seat yelled something to the man managing the car, and it swerved out just enough to let number twelve by.
Dan tried to follow. But before he could get the nose of number forty-eight into the opening, the omnibus swung back into the middle of the road again. The highway was narrow. There was no sidewalk on either hand. It was a typical country road and on either hand was a steep bank down to a barbed wire fence. To go into the ditch would finish any car!
“Hey there!” yelled Billy, standing up. “Let us by. Don’t hog the road, fellows.”
“Who are you, sonny?” returned one of the smart boys on the back seat.