ourself
too, Betty, I almost wish you had hit him."

"Well, I don't," said Grace ruefully. "Nobody ever thinks of poor me."

"I guess we had better be a little more careful in the future," said
Mrs. Ford, a worried line between her brows. "Better to be a little
longer reaching Bluff Point than to endanger our lives and perhaps the
lives of others."

"It almost looks as if we shouldn't have any choice," said Mollie, and
they looked at her in surprise.

"Well, we can't hope to pass that wagon," she explained, indicating the
vehicle that was now some hundred feet in front and was waddling along
at a snail's pace. "There isn't room, with the ditch on one side and the
drop on the other."

"It will be easy enough if he moves to one side of the road," suggested
Amy.

"He'll move over if we toot at him," added Grace.

But Mollie shook her head doubtfully.

"I'm not so sure," she said. "It would be just like him to try to get
even with us by blocking the road."

"Get even with us?" repeated Betty indignantly. "I might just as well
say I want to get even with him for being in the road when I wanted to
pass. How ridiculous."

"Of course it's ridiculous. That's probably the reason he would think of
it," insisted Mollie. "I know these farmers," she added, nodding darkly.

They laughed at her, and Betty cried gayly: "Well, we won't get anywhere
by standing here in the road. I move we follow the old fellow and see
what he's up to. And if he gets too ridiculous," she added, as she
climbed back into the car, "I know how I'll fix him."

"How?" they asked.

"I'll bump him," she responded ferociously, and amid more fun and
laughter they climbed back into the cars and started on again.

"You know, even his back looks stubborn," remarked Grace, when, coming
close to the wagon and tooting the horn vigorously, the driver refused
to budge from the middle of the road. "I guess perhaps you will have to
carry out your threat, Betty."

"Well, I declare if I won't," exclaimed the Little Captain, her cheeks
flushing and her eyes blazing at the stubborn insolence of the man. "It
would give me great pleasure to bump him clear down the side of the
mountain."

"It's getting late, too," worried Grace. "Can't you do something,
Betty?"

"Will you please suggest something?" cried Betty, exasperated. "There's
nothing in the rules for driving a machine that covers this difficulty.
I don't know what to do, unless-- Did you bring the pisto