The Girl Scouts' Good Turn Part 25

"And what am I to do if we do catch them?" asked Harold.

"Just follow them, and make their lives miserable," laughed Ruth.

"I think it must have something to do with Miss Phillips," remarked Jack. "I heard her name mentioned once or twice."

Ruth repressed an involuntary start.

Miss Phillips! So this was the scheme: Marjorie was merely courting popularity with the Scout Captain! Probably her rival intended to wheedle Miss Phillips into giving her the first-cla.s.s test privately, so that she might be the first in the troop to receive that honor! A hard look came into Ruth's eyes; she was more resolved than ever to do all in her power to make the other girl's project fail. But she said nothing of all this to her companions.

They followed the main road for about five miles, pa.s.sing several machines, but never catching sight of the desired one. Harold had been keeping to about thirty miles an hour, but as he reached the level road and the open country, he let it out to thirty-five.

Ruth talked incessantly, telling the boys all about the Scout parties and the hockey games. Although she had not mentioned Frieda Hammer, she suddenly remarked,

"Wasn't it dreadful about Marj's canoe?"

"Yes," replied Jack; "who do you suppose stole it?"

"Don't you know?" exclaimed Ruth. "Why, that thief our Scout troop adopted to reform. But it serves Marj right! She was the strongest one for doing it."

Harold, who was in the dark about all this, was naturally curious to hear the whole story, and Ruth recounted it as briefly as possible.

All this time the youthful driver was speeding his Ford at its very limit, and gradually gaining upon a speck in the distance which appeared to be a touring car.

"By George! that's our Buick!" cried Jack. "I'll just bet anything!"

But Harold could not go any faster, and the other car was making good time. He continued, however, to keep it in sight, while Ruth breathlessly urged him on.

The houses were closer together now, and Harold unconsciously slackened his pace.

"Must we go slow?" asked Ruth, disappointed.

"Yes; the law's fifteen. But we'll take a chance on twenty-five!"

"Still, dad will have to slow up, too," remarked Jack, consolingly. "And maybe we'll catch him on the open road again."

"It's almost like following elopers," laughed Harold. "I do love a chase."

"So do I," agreed Ruth. Then, "Oh, see that bridge; do we have to cross that?"

"Yes," replied Jack; "for that will take us into Trenton. And they must be headed that way."

They slowed down before crossing the bridge when suddenly there was a terrific report, like an explosion, which startled them so that they almost jumped out of their skins. Harold applied the brakes quickly, and swung the car sharply towards the side of the road.

"Good night!" he exclaimed; "a blow-out! I was a fool to leave that b.u.m shoe on the rear! And the spare is perfectly new!"

"We'll never catch them now!" mourned Ruth, dejectedly.

They sat gazing at each other helplessly.

"Well, we'll never catch them if we sit here all day; that's a sure thing!" announced Jack, coming to life. "Come on, Mason! Let's break all records for a quick change!"

They scrambled out into the road.

"Jerusalem!" exclaimed Jack, poking a finger at the jagged hole in the flat tire, where the tread was so worn that the lining of the shoe was exposed. "Look at that hole!"

He peeled off his coat and tossed it into the machine, and handed his watch to Ruth, saying,

"Here, Ruth; time us, from now on."

Harold, following his example, was rummaging under the back seat for his tools; he threw a kit and a jack out into the road calling,

"There you are, Wilkinson! You unscrew the rim-cleats, and I'll jack her up."

"That's a funny-looking jack!" observed Ruth, looking at it curiously.

"It's a new kind," retorted Harold knowingly, thinking that Ruth, like most girls, probably knew nothing about tools.

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the object; then dropped what he was doing to examine it more closely.

"By George! Ruth's right! Where is the part that goes under the axle?"

Harold was out of the machine in a jiffy.

"Great snakes!" he howled, tearing his hair. "It does come off; and if I can't find it under the seat, we're out of luck, that's all!"

He dived again into the car, leaving the other two staring at the dismembered jack. They heard him fumbling around again, and, after a minute, he slid out and sat upon the running-board.

"No use! I guess I left it home," he said.

"Then I guess I won't need this," said Ruth, handing Jack his watch.

Suddenly, the humor of the situation struck all three of them at once, and they burst into shrieks of laughter.

"Well, catching them is now out of the question," said Jack, after the merriment had subsided; "but we'll have to get home again somehow."

"Yes," agreed Harold, "the question is--how?"

"There must be a garage around here somewhere, and we could borrow a jack," suggested Ruth.

"Shall I go ahead and look for one?" asked Jack.

"Oh, we'll stop a pa.s.sing machine, and borrow one," said Harold.

"But none has pa.s.sed us yet," protested Ruth, "and we might have to wait here all day."

"I don't think so; there ought to be lots of traffic on this road; it's a main highway. They just won't come because we want them to."

"There are several little houses down there," said Jack, indicating a group of boat-houses along the banks of the river, about fifty yards away; "perhaps one of them would have a jack."