t rashly, it might slip down and crush the unconscious man.
Mordaunt was the first to see a way and jumped into the ditch.

"Come down and get your backs under the axle," he said.

They obeyed and, standing in the water, tried to lift the car. For a
few moments it looked impossible, because the weight above forced their
feet into the mud; then, while they gasped and strained, the wheel rose
an inch or two from Jim's chest.

"Lift him, Carrie! Lift him now!" Jake shouted in a breathless voice.

Carrie seized Jim's coat and tried to drag him up. He was heavy; she
choked with the tense effort and did not know afterwards how it was
made. For all that, she dragged him up a foot and then to one side.
The strain was horrible, but she held on and thought she saw the car
tilt and the back wheel tear the peaty soil from the top of the bank.

Jake shouted something, Dick fell back, and she saw that Jim was clear
of the wheel. For a moment, Mordaunt's face stood out against the
gloom. It was dark with blood, his teeth shone between his drawn-back
lips, and the veins on his forehead were horribly swollen. Then there
was a crash among the thorns, and the car seemed to go right over.
Mordaunt staggered and fell, and somebody helped her to drag Jim up;
Carrie did not know if it was Dick or Jake. Next moment Mordaunt
crawled out of the ditch and joined them. He gasped and the water ran
from his clothes.

"Are you hurt?" Carrie asked. "You got all the weight at the last."

Mordaunt smiled. It looked as if he could not speak, and while Carrie
wiped Jim's face Jake beckoned Dick.

"Bring your car. We must get him home."

Dick turned the car and they put Jim on the floor with his head against
Carrie's knee. When they started she bent and held his shoulders, and
in a few minutes they rolled up the drive. Then Carrie pulled herself
together, gave orders, and took control; and when they had carried Jim
to his room gave Mordaunt her hand.

"You saved him," she said. "We won't forget!"

"I happened to see a plan before the others; that's all," Mordaunt
replied. "I'll get off now and send a doctor."

He ran downstairs and Carrie heard his car start while she stood with
her mother by Jim's bed. Her face was white, but it flushed when Jim
opened his eyes.

"What's the matter? Where am I?" he asked.

"You're at home," said Carrie. "You mustn't talk."

"I don't want to talk. Things are all going round," Jim rejoin