Part 33 (2/2)
”Yes, I will,” promised Eveley. ”But I must hurry. They will follow us--will they follow us, Marie?”
”Oh, surely, when they miss us. They have motorcycles. Listen. Hear them far back? Of course they would follow.”
”Sit tight, Marie, and do not worry. I know this road all right.”
”They are gaining on us, dear. Can you do better?”
But Eveley was afraid to go faster on those sharp curves, though she strained her eyes to see the road before them.
”We are nearly to Flynn Springs,” she said. ”We must be. We can stop there.”
”They will soon be up with us,” said Angelo, looking back.
”We must leave the car, and hide in the woods,” said Marie.
”Oh, I am afraid to leave the car.”
”The woods will not hurt us. It is only men who harm. Come, we must. If they catch us, we are lost. Pull out here to the left, and turn off the lights. They may pa.s.s us in the darkness. Take the key with you. And hurry.”
Acting upon this plan, they were soon slipping over the small stones and pebbles down a shallow gully and up among the rocks and shrubs of a little cliff.
Already the tremendous roar of the motorcycles was close upon them.
”Quick, Eveley, behind this bush.--Lie down flat. Yes, all right, Angelo.
Sh, quiet now.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Please let me go,” she pleaded.]
At that instant the motorcycles whirled past--a sudden call from the familiar voice of Amos Hiltze, and with a great tearing and cras.h.i.+ng of brakes, the cycles stopped and the men ran back to the car.
”It is her car,” cried Amos Hiltze. ”They have deserted it. They must be very close, we shall find them quickly. You go--”
”We can not find them,” said a new authoritative voice. ”The cops may be here any moment. We've got to get away to-night, or it is everlastingly too late. You have lost the girl--lost them both. Now make the best of it.”
And one motorcycle was started again.
”I'll slash their tires for luck,” said Amos Hiltze. ”And we can send a couple of men to look for them. Then we can send back for them later on if they find them.”
Eveley ground her teeth at the ripping of the tires, for the rubber is to a motorist as a baby to a loving mother. But in a moment came the sputter and roar of the motors, and the men had gone again back the road they had come.
”We'll just have to crawl into Flynn Springs on the rims, and phone for Nolan. It can not be far.”
But even that was impossible, for with devilish foresight, Amos Hiltze had taken the timer from the carburetor, and the little Rolls was powerless.
”We'll walk then,” said Eveley bravely, and hand in hand, the three of them set out on the rocky winding road to Flynn Springs.
”Nolan will not waste any time coming for us,” said Eveley confidently.
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