They
turned to the right and kept along a lawn in the shadows of the trees.
The automobile passed them with a purr and a sweeping flare of white
light. Then Perry was after it and in another moment they were all
three huddled somehow on the gas-tank at the rear and going with
increasing speed out of the grounds and along a road. For a few minutes
they hung there, breathing hard, and then Wink gasped:
"We've got to get off, Perry! It's going the wrong way!"
"If we do, we'll get killed," answered Perry. "Wait till it slows up."
They waited, but it seemed that it never would slow up. It went faster
and faster. It passed houses and stores and a church. It went like the
wind. Ossie groaned as they left the village behind.
"I can't stay on much longer, fellows!" he said hopelessly. "I'm
clinging by my t-t-teeth!"
"You've got to!" answered Perry above the noise of the exhaust. "You'll
break something if you don't! Wait till it slows up!"
_Toot! Toot! To-o-oot!_ said the horn. And then, so suddenly that
Perry's head collided with something particularly hard, the brakes
squeaked harshly, the car slewed into an avenue and the boys, making the
most of the opportunity, fell off. Ossie rolled a full half-dozen yards
before his progress was stayed by a tree, and Wink, or so Perry
declared afterwards, described a beautiful and quite perfect circle.
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