The Girls of Central High at Basketball Part 14

Chet was getting from under the wheel, and grunted. But Laura hopped out before him, came to Hester's side of the car, and asked:

"Did it stop of itself?"

"No. It wasn't firing regularly. I looked at the carburetor to see if it was all right. Then I tried to start her and couldn't," said Hester, ungraciously.

Laura was going over the wiring to see if there were no loose contacts before Chet came to them. She turned the fly wheel far enough to get the buzz of the spark coils.

"Go ahead, Sis!" chuckled Chet. "You know so much you'll be taking our old mill to pieces pretty soon, I reckon."

Hester stood by and bit her lip with vexation. She was almost on the point of driving Laura away from the car, rather than have her enemy--for so she considered Mother Wit--help her out of her trouble.

But night was coming on and she did not want to stand there much longer, if the car could be started.

Laura removed a plug, grounded it on a cylinder and turned the wheel to a sparking point to note the quality of the spark and the strength of the battery. Then she ticked the carburetor and opened the small c.o.c.k at the bottom.

"You're getting your gloves all messy, Laura!" called Jess from the other car.

"Hush!" commanded Chet, grinning, and holding up his hand. "Do not disturb the priestess of automobiling at her devotions. There will be something 'didding' in a minute--now watch."

But Laura was serious--and interested. She closed the c.o.c.k and felt along the gasoline pipe to the valve rod. This seemed to interest her particularly. In a moment she straightened up and stood back, saying to Hester:

"You try the engine. Maybe she'll work now."

Hester scrambled into her seat and tried the starter. The engine began to buzz like a saw-mill.

"Great Scott, Laura!" cried her brother. "What did you do to it?"

"Turned on the gasoline," said his sister, drily. "When Hester looked at her carburetor she turned it off. No wonder the engine wouldn't run."

"Thanks," muttered Hester, in a choked tone, while the crowd in the other auto smothered their laughter, and she prepared to start the car when Chet should have stepped aside.

"Hold on!" said young Belding. "This isn't any way to be traveling, Miss Hester."

"Why not?" she snapped at him, for the situation was getting on her nerves now.

"The wind is likely to change. If it veers around it will drive the fire directly up this road," said Chet.

"What's burning?" demanded the girl, sharply.

"The whole forest back yonder through the cut. We came through a big cloud of smoke."

"If you got through I guess I can," Hester said, ungratefully, and the next moment started her car, which rolled swiftly away along the turnpike.

The fact was, she did not want to try to turn the machine while they were watching her. She knew she should be awkward about it. And Laura Belding had displayed her superiority over her once already--and that was enough!

The big car purred again joyously, and the roadway slipped behind like a ribbon running over a spool. In half a minute Hester and her car had dipped into the valley and were running through the cut between the hills. The Belding car was out of sight.

But suddenly she became aware that the smoke was thick here. This deep cut was filled with it. And the fumes were not only choking; there was heat with the smoke.

A shift of wind drove a thick cloud out of the forest and she had to shut her eyes. This was dangerous work. She knew better than to try to run the car on high speed when she could not see twenty feet beyond it.

When she reduced speed she was cognizant of a roaring sound from the forest. For a moment she thought a big wind was coming.

Then she knew better. It was the fire. Not far away the flames were devouring the forest hungrily--and the wind was behind the flames!

There must have already been a change in the air-current, as Chet had prophesied. The forest fire was driving right into this narrow cut between the hills. To be caught here by the flames would not only mean the finish of this brand new car, but Hester knew that there would be no escape for her from such a situation.

CHAPTER XIV

RACING THE FLAMES

Hester's car jarred down to a complete stop. The smoke stung her eyes and it began to be difficult for her to breathe. She knew that she had come too far on this road. She should have heeded Chet Belding's warning.

But now she needed all her courage and coolness to get her out of the hot corner into which she had so heedlessly driven the automobile. The road was not more than thirty feet wide and the thick woods bordered it on either hand. Out of the covert dashed a flash of rusty brown that was gone in an instant. Hester knew it to be a fox. Already she had seen the rabbits running, and not a bird was in sight.

The fire was coming--and coming by leaps and bounds!

It smote upon Hester Grimes's mind that not alone were she and the innocent animals of the wood in peril; but there were lonely farms, deep in the forest, where the houses were so near the woods that the fire was sure to destroy them.

Who would warn those squatters and small farmers of the danger down here in the cut? When once the flames rose over the ridge, with the wind behind them, they would descend the other side with the swiftness of an express train.

Crops, orchards, outbuildings, and dwellings would all be sacrificed to the demon of flame. And some of the families along that far road on which the Sitz farm lay would scarcely have time to flee.

But Hester, as she often said herself, "was no namby-pamby girl." She made a deal of fun of her chum, Lily, because the latter was always so helpless--or appeared to be--in time of trouble.

She was alone, at the edge of this burning forest, with this big car.

It had to be turned around, and then she must run it out of the line of the fire. Her father would have something to say--and that to much purpose--if she lost this brand new car, which he had not even paid for as yet.

She started the car on the reverse, and twisted the wheel. The car backed, and shook, and she stopped it just as a rear tire collided with a stump. She must go ahead, and back, and go ahead again, and reverse once more, and repeat the operation half a dozen times before the car would be headed in the proper direction.

The smoke grew thicker and thicker--and more choking. Her eyes were half blinded by tears, for the smoke stung them sadly. But soon she was free. The car could fly back over the road which it had lately descended, and once out of the cut her peril would be past.

But on the very moment of starting ahead again Hester heard a great crashing in the bushes. Out into the road ahead of the car sprawled on hands and knees a man--or the semblance of one. For the instant Hester scarcely knew what to make of the figure sprawling there before the car. But she shut down again so as not to run over it.

Then the individual arose to his knees and waved his arms weakly. His clothing was in rags. Indeed, he had only half a shirt and the remains of his overalls left upon his body, besides his shoes. His hair had been singed from his head. A great angry burn disfigured one side of his face, while the beard was crisped to cinders on the other side. He was without eyebrows and eyelashes, and his eyes stared from deep hollows in his face--or so it seemed.

"For heaven's sake, help me!" he gasped. "Take me aboard! Take me away from here!"

He struggled to his feet and fell again. He had come as far as he could. Had the road not been right where it was, the man must have fallen in the woods and been swept again by the flames.

Hester sprang up, caught him around the waist and half dragged him to the car. She was thoroughly scared now; but she was courageous enough to aid this man who was more unfortunate than herself.

"Get in! Get in!" she cried, flinging open the door of the tonneau.

"We must hurry."