le called to them that perhaps if he and the
others pushed until they got it to going well, and the machinery warmed
up, it might run better.

Mr. 'Possum didn't much like to have his car pushed, but he said that
Mr. Man's car didn't always start well, either, and very likely had to
be pushed sometimes. So then Mr. Turtle and Mr. Squirrel got one on each
corner, and Mr. Robin went ahead to kick stones out of the road, and Mr.
'Possum said "Ready!" and everybody did his best, and the Deep Woods
automobile squeaked and squealed and started down the race-track pretty
fast, but not always keeping in the middle of it, because Mr. 'Possum
couldn't steer perfectly the first time, and went from one side of the
road to the other, and said it was because they didn't push evenly, and
he was as proud as could be of his great invention. Then Mr. Squirrel
and Mr. Turtle gave it one big push, and let go, and Mr. 'Coon and Mr.
Crow ground away at the windlass their level best, and the car went on
quite a ways before it stopped. It wouldn't have stopped then if Mr.
Coon and Mr. Crow hadn't given clean out and let go of the crank and
hung over the sides of the car and said it was all so exciting and they
were enjoying it so much that they were quite overcome.

[Illustration: GOING FASTER AND FASTER EVERY MINUTE]

Then Mr. Turtle said _he_ had an idea. He said down not far from his
house which stood by the Wide Blue Water there was a smooth road with a
good deal of a slant in it, and that if the car was over there and got
started down that slant it would very likely almost run itself and move
a good deal faster. So they all said yes, that was just the thing, and
everybody but Mr. 'Possum took hold and pushed, because Mr. 'Possum had
to steer; and by and by they got to the slanting road, which was, really
quite a hill, and Mr. Rabbit got in again by Mr. 'Possum, and Mr. 'Coon
and Mr. Crow took hold of the windlass, and sure enough, that time, the
car started well enough, and went without any trouble at all. Mr. Turtle
and the others had run a good ways down the road to see them pass, and
pretty soon they did pass, going faster and faster every minute, and
everybody cheered and waved, and Mr. 'Possum called back to Mr. 'Coon
and Mr. Crow that they could turn a little slower, so all could enjoy
the scenery.

But Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow _couldn't_ turn any slower, and when they
tried to hold back on the crank it just jerked them right aroun