"Perhaps," replied Grace, eyes fixed moodily upon the flying landscape.
"But when I think of Will--"

For a long time there was silence. Then Betty gave a little start and
regarded with disfavor a big drop that rested on the third finger of her
right hand. She immediately resigned the guidance of the car to her left
hand while she held up the right for Grace's inspection.

"What's the matter with it?" queried the latter, who had been engrossed
in her not too happy meditations.

"Rain," cried Betty succinctly, adding with a whimsical little smile: "I
don't know whether Joe Barnes is a slacker or not, but I do know he's a
good prophet. We surely shall have to put on some speed if we want to
reach Bensington before the storm!"

CHAPTER IX

THUNDER AND MUD

"You don't mean it's raining!" cried Grace, holding out a hand to see
for herself. "Oh, dear, and we have several miles to go before we even
reach the outskirts of Bensington. What shall we do now?"

"I don't know," answered Betty, while a worried frown wrinkled her
pretty forehead. "I don't know just how far out we are. Oh, there's a
signboard. What does it say, Gracie? You can read it better than I."

"Ten miles to Bensington," Grace read, leaning far out of the car. "Oh
Betty, we can't possibly make it! Listen to that!"

"That" was an ominous rumble of thunder, and Betty's pretty forehead
puckered still more.

"Well, we can at least put the top up," she said practically. "That will
keep the worst of it off anyway, and if we hurry we may have a chance of
beating it yet."

Betty brought the car to a stop, jumped out on the road with Grace at
her heels, and waited for Mollie to come up. They had not long to wait
for a moment later Mollie stopped her car with a grinding of brakes and
came running up to her chums.

"I was wondering how long you were going to ignore the warnings of
nature," she said, with a little grimace. "That cloud has been growing
with horrible rapidity for the last five minutes. What are your plans,
Captain?" and she favored Betty with a true military salute.

"I wish I had some," said the latter, cocking a still more anxious eye
at the threatening cloud. "And all I've been able to think of so far is
the very original idea of putting up the top."

"And side curtains," supplemented Mollie, with a chuckle. "Strange as it
may seem, even I have been favored with that inspiration."

"Well, let's get busy," suggested Amy, with pr