r plans changed by
people or circumstances.

For an hour he drove at his best speed, watching the clouds
anxiously. The table-land, from horizon to horizon, was glowing
in sunlight, and the sky itself seemed only the more brilliant
for the mass of purple vapours rolling in the west, with bright
edges, like new-cut lead. He had made fifty odd miles when the
air suddenly grew cold, and in ten minutes the whole shining sky
was blotted out. He sprang to the ground and began to jack up his
wheels. As soon as a wheel left the earth, Enid adjusted the
chain. Claude told her he had never got the chains on so quickly
before. He covered the packages in the back seat with an oilcloth
and drove forward to meet the storm.

The rain swept over them in waves, seemed to rise from the sod as
well as to fall from the clouds. They made another five miles,
ploughing through puddles and sliding over liquefied roads.
Suddenly the heavy car, chains and all, bounded up a two-foot
bank, shot over the sod a dozen yards before the brake caught it,
then swung a half-circle and stood still. Enid sat calm and
motionless.

Claude drew a long breath. "If that had happened on a culvert,
we'd be in the ditch with the car on top of us. I simply can't
control the thing. The whole top soil is loose, and there's
nothing to hold to. That's Tommy Rice's place over there. We'd
better get him to take us in for the night."

"But that would be worse than the hotel," Enid objected. "They
are not very clean people, and there are a lot of children."

"Better be crowded than dead," he murmured. "From here on, it
would be a matter of luck. We might land anywhere."

"We are only about ten miles from your place. I can stay with
your mother tonight."

"It's too dangerous, Enid. I don't like the responsibility. Your
father would blame me for taking such a chance."

"I know, it's on my account you're nervous." Enid spoke
reasonably enough. "Do you mind letting me drive for awhile?
There are only three bad hills left, and I think I can slide down
them sideways; I've often tried it."

Claude got out and let her slip into his seat, but after she took
the wheel he put his hand on her arm. "Don't do anything so
foolish," he pleaded.

Enid smiled and shook her head. She was amiable, but inflexible.

He folded his arms. "Go on."

He was chafed by her stubbornness, but he had to admire her
resourcefulness in handling the car. At the bottom of one of the
worst hi