“We certainly are not going to chance the risk of being chased by elks and letting Mildred get lost in the Big Swamp,” chattered Ruth, with her arm around the waist of the doctor’s daughter. “We’re going in cars. The Greenes will go, and we depend upon you, Burton, to bring a part of the crowd. And let’s see—oh, yes, you, Dan Speedwell! You and Billy have a car?”
“So we suppose,” returned Dan, rather ruefully. “It’s being put in shape now; but your party isn’t until next week Friday, is it?”
“That is the time,” said Ruth Stetson. “I am going to ask you to bring Milly here, and Lettie Parker, and Kate O’Brien and Maybell Turner, beside two of the boys. Can you do it?”
“Why, the car will hold that number,” said Dan, quietly. “I think we shall not fail you.”
Chance lounged near, with his hands in his pockets and there was a sneering smile on his face.
“Aren’t you counting chickens before they’re hatched, Speedwell?” he suggested. “You don’t know whether that broken-down car of yours is going to run at all, do you?”
“Oh, I guess she will be all right when they get through with her down at Darringfords,” returned Dan, easily.
“That car will never be fixed in those shops,” remarked Chance.
“Who says so?” demanded Billy, hotly.
“I say so,” snarled Chance. “I know all about it. The car isn’t worth repairing in the first place. It’s too badly wrecked. You Speedwells might as well go down and take your ramshackle old car home again.”