“Out of the frying pan into the fire,” laughed Nell. “We just succeed in getting out of the river, and we immediately make plans for getting into it again.”
“Does seem rather foolish, doesn’t it?” agreed Jessie. “However, we can only hope that the river bottom isn’t mud all the way.”
“It is not,” Miss Alling assured her, as the boys unfastened the rope that bound the two cars together. “As the stream becomes more shallow the river bed becomes more pebbly1. I really think we won’t have any trouble getting across.”
The knots in the rope that had bound the two cars together had been drawn2 taut3 by the strain upon them and the unfastening of the knots required time and patience. Miss Alling insisted that the rope should not be cut.
“We never can tell when we may need the rope again,” she reminded them. “Better spend a little extra time just now than lose a good deal later on.”
At last the final knot was untied4, the rope stowed away in the tonneau awaiting the next emergency, and they were ready for the start. In the meantime Darry had gone back and posted a warning on the road leading to the broken bridge.
“Where do we go from here, boys—or rather, Aunt Em?” queried5 Burd, as the boys climbed back into the roadster. “We let you take the lead before, and I suppose we shall have to again. Though I don’t know whether we should,” he added judicially6, “after the place you led us to.”
“Better here than into the river,” retorted Miss Alling, and stepped on the starter.
It was necessary for them to proceed at a snail’s pace, for, though there were traces of an old wagon7 road following the banks of the stream at this point, the woodland was dense8 with vines and undergrowth, and the road was fairly overgrown with rank grass and bushes.
It seemed an endless time to the impatient girls before Miss Alling stopped the car and, pointing out toward the stream, declared that she was confident they would be able to cross it at that point.
They got out to have a closer look at the water, and Darry, having stopped his car a few feet behind them, joined them with Fol and Burd.
“All set for the big act?” asked Darry, and Miss Alling nodded thoughtfully. They had reached the water, and at the point where the stream encroached upon the shore it was only a few inches deep. Also, the bottom was, as Miss Alling had prophesied9, hard and dotted with small boulders10 and rocks.
“Pretty rough going, but a good sight better than mud, at that,” was Fol’s verdict. “I vote we get started.”
“But how do you know the stream is fordable at this point?” asked Darry.
Miss Alling had started back toward the cars, evidently intent upon following Fol’s suggestion without delay, but at Darry’s question she turned and looked at him squarely.
“My dear boy, I don’t know,” she told him. “The world is full of gambles. This is one of them.”
“I don’t want to gamble,” wailed11 Amy, as they followed Aunt Emma. “I only want to live. Jessie, I give you my word I feel ten perfectly12 good years of my life slipping away.”
“I have heard that people actually do die of fright sometimes,” said Jessie, cheerfully, and Amy shot her a reproachful glance.
“Mean old thing,” she said. “I don’t believe you are frightened in the least, Jessie Norwood.”
“Why should I be?” returned Jessie, with a laugh. “It isn’t as though we hadn’t been close to drowning before. Barry’s yacht, the Marigold, for instance.”
“Well, just because we nearly drowned once isn’t to say that I ought to enjoy it the second time,” grumbled13 Amy. The next moment she gripped Jessie’s arm. Miss Alling had turned the car and had headed it straight toward the river.
“Here goes,” sang out Nell. “Hold your hats, everybody!”
The water swished about the wheels as the car pushed forward, and Amy’s grip upon her chum tightened14.
“In just about a minute we are due to stumble into a hole,” she said, and Jessie giggled15.
“Cars don’t stumble,” she said. “They plunge16. If you are not careful I will tell Miss Seymour on you.”
“O-oh, there we go!” gasped17 Amy, shutting her eyes as the water swished up higher about the wheels. “Let me know when it reaches my chin. I shan’t die without a struggle.”
“Silly, open your eyes,” laughed Jessie. “If you think you can drown in two feet of water, go ahead.”
Luckily for them, the opposite shore was not steep, and the big car took the ascent18 with ease. Miss Alling stopped the car long enough to make sure that the boys were following them safely, then turned about and headed back through the woods toward the roadway.
They were again on an old road running through the woods, but it was one seldom used and was filled with stumps19 and creeping vines, and they were once more forced to proceed at a crawl. But with the river successfully crossed, the girls did not chafe20 so much at the slow pace and were pleasantly surprised when at last the highway appeared through the trees.
Once upon this highway, they waited for the roadster to catch up to them. Somebody suggested that they have lunch before they went any further. The broken bridge had delayed them more than they realized, and Darry found upon consulting his watch that it was long past lunch time.
Miss Alling, however, insisted that they continue on for a few miles in an attempt to make up the time they had lost.
“We have a long way to go yet,” she reminded them. “And the last part of the trip is by far the harder. We turn off from the main highway several miles away from Forest Lodge21, and the lake road is steep and rocky. I have no notion,” she ended decidedly, “of taking that road after dark.”
The young folks reluctantly consented to go on although the basket lunch which Alma, the Norwood’s cook, had packed with dainties, was the cause of much yearning22 speculation23 on the part of the girls and boys. The lunch was one Alma had insisted on their taking along, saying there was no telling what a motor car might do or when it would get them to their journey’s end.
The next hour passed uneventfully, and Miss Alling, as though to make up for every second of wasted time, burned up mile upon mile of smooth road beneath the wheels of her powerful car.
They came at last to a road marked: Detour24—Road Closed for Repairs.
Miss Alling stopped the car so swiftly that the girls were thrown forward in their seats. As Amy afterward25 remarked, nothing save the luggage kept her and Jessie from being tossed over the heads of the two in front.
Their chaperone regarded the annoying sign with furrowed26 brow.
“I know this detour,” she said, with a sigh. “It means a half dozen miles out of our way on a most disagreeable stretch of road. Now we surely will be late reaching Forest Lodge!”
“Well, if we are going to be late, anyway, we might as well eat,” suggested Jessie, and Darry, who, with Fol and Burd, had strolled up to inspect the sign, seconded the suggestion with extreme heartiness27. The others joined in and made such a clamor that for the sake of peace their chaperone was forced to give in.
Besides, as she admitted later between bites of a chicken sandwich, she had been actually famished28 herself.
After the hamper29 had been emptied and they were on their way once more, the boys and girls found out that Aunt Emma had not exaggerated when she classed the detour as a most disagreeable stretch of road. It was all of that, as Burd remarked, and “then some.”
They came at last to a village, a straggling, shabby little place with one main street, a shabby motion picture theater, and a few uninviting-looking stores.
“This is Gibbonsville, and it marks the end of the detour,” said Miss Alling. “Just beyond here we come upon the lake road again.”
“That is lucky,” said Amy. “One more mile of that road, and I shouldn’t have had a tight tooth in my head.” Her voice died off vaguely30. She had started forward in her seat, her gaze suddenly fixed31 and staring.
“What is it?” cried Jessie.
“There is that girl! The one who gave me the counterfeit32 bill!”
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1
pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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judicially
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| 依法判决地，公平地 | |
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7
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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8
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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11
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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13
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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14
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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15
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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17
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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18
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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19
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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20
chafe
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| v.擦伤；冲洗；惹怒 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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22
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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23
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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26
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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28
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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hamper
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| vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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30
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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31
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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32
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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