"The brake's busted! I can't stop the car!" yelled the motorman.
Vainly he twisted at the handle. Then, seeing he could not stop the trolley car he made a desperate jump off the vehicle and landed in a heap on the side of the road, rolling over and over.
"Reverse the current!" cried one of the passengers, to the conductor. "That ought to stop her!"
The conductor made his way to the front platform and turned the reversing lever. Then he applied the current. But it was no use. With a blinding flash and a report like that of a gun a fuse blew out, and that crippled the car completely so far as the electric current was concerned.
"Everybody jump!" cried the conductor. "There's a curve at the foot of the hill, and we'll all be killed if we stay on!"
One by one the passengers leaped from the car. Several were badly hurt by the falls they got. Meanwhile the trolley was tearing down the hill at a terrific rate of speed.
"Shall we jump?" asked Mark of Jack.
"We'll be killed if we do," was Jack's answer.
"And we'll be killed if we stay aboard," said Mark.
"Not if I can help it," cried Jack as he started for the rear platform.