Part 6 (1/2)
”How are you going to get the biplane back here, even if you do find it?” questioned their uncle, before they started off.
”I don't know,” answered d.i.c.k. ”It will depend on what condition the _Dartaway_ is in. She may be so broken up as to be unfit for anything, and then it wouldn't pay to move her.”
”Well, better not attempt to fly in the craft,” cautioned Randolph Rover.
”Hardly,” said Tom. ”Maybe we'll telephone for Captain Colby to come and get her.”
Tom was at the wheel of the touring car and, once the farm was left behind, and they were on a fairly good country road, he advanced the spark and the gasoline control until they were running at twenty-five and then thirty miles an hour.
”Now, don't get gay, Tom!” warned d.i.c.k. ”This road wasn't built for racing.”
”Pooh, what's thirty miles an hour!” declared the fun-loving Rover, who just then felt like ”letting out.” ”You know this machine can make fifty and better, d.i.c.k.”
”I know it, but you've got to have a safer road than this, Tom.”
”Beware of the turn!” cried Sam, who sat on the front seat with Tom, while d.i.c.k was alone in the tonneau. ”It's a bad one!”
”I know it, but I'll make it,” answered Tom, and then the touring car reached a bend in the road, and went whizzing around it with a sudden lurch that made Sam cling desperately to the seat and sent d.i.c.k flying from one side of the tonneau to the other.
”Tom, be careful!” cried Sam. ”Do you want to pitch me out on my head?”
”Do that again, and I'll make you let Sam drive,” came from d.i.c.k.
”It was the brake--it didn't act just right,” answered Tom, just a little frightened. ”I think it's loose.”
”Better stop and look at it,” answered d.i.c.k, promptly.
”Oh, I guess it's all right,” said Tom. The touring car continued to move along, up a winding hill. Then came a level stretch for half a mile, and then a sharp descent, leading into Carwood.
”Now be careful----” commenced d.i.c.k. And then stopped short, for a sudden snapping sound reached his ears.
”What's that?” cried Sam, in alarm.
”The brake--it's broken!” answered Tom. And then he set his teeth grimly, to try to guide the heavy touring car down the steep hill without disaster.
CHAPTER V
LOOKING FOR THE LOST FLYING MACHINE
It was the foot brake that had given away. The hand brake was still fit for use, but each of the Rover boys remembered with dismay that this brake had been loose for some time. They had thought to tighten it up, but other matters had claimed their attention, and they had not deemed it absolutely necessary before taking the short trip to Rayville, since on starting the other brake had seemed to be in good order.
”Can you do it, Tom?” asked d.i.c.k, quickly, as the big car gathered headway on the steep hill.
”I'll try!” was Tom's reply. ”But it's some hill.”
”If only we don't meet anything,” put in Sam. ”Blow the horn, d.i.c.k!”
The oldest Rover boy did as requested, leaning over from the back seat to do so, and thus leaving Tom free to manipulate the steering wheel.