," said
Dorothy; "to feel the wind fairly blowing the hair off your head; the
landscape flashing past so rapidly one can scarcely see it, and to
know that--"

"Stop, Dorothy Calvert! You shall not tempt me. I'm too old to
acquire such habits, and if Gerald lets his car get beyond a fair
rate of speed during our journey home, I shall leap out into the
ditch. Then just think how badly you all will feel."

But the boys only grinned at this, and resumed their work of taking
down the tents.

Soon everything was packed in the machine but enough food for their
mid-day lunch, which was eaten under the shade of the trees.

When the time to leave came at last, no one seemed happier or more
eager than Len Haley. An instinctive fear seemed to possess the lad
that his uncle would be prowling about the mountains and apprehend
him when he least expected it; hence, to go flying away to Baltimore
in a big automobile was to him the acme of delight.

The early afternoon was spent at the camp, but about four o'clock,
when the sun was on the decline, and the shadows in the valley had
commenced to lengthen, Gerald, at the wheel of the big Ajax, sent the
machine slowly across the plateau toward the eastern mountain.

As the car moved along the girls burst into a song, and a moment
later Jim and Gerald joined in. For a few moments they fairly made
the welkin ring. Then as the machine was plunging down a steep
descent the concert came to an abrupt end, and the inmates clutched
the rails to keep from pitching forward.

Up around the side of the east mountain the auto then climbed slowly,
seeming to exert itself very little for the performance of so
difficult a task.

Shortly after sundown, they went spinning down into the valley to the
hotel where they had stopped for the night on their trip to the
mountains two weeks before.

The landlord had apparently forgotten that this was the party who had
feasted on the good things he had set before them, greatly to his
discomfiture; for now he put himself out to serve them a fine supper.

And everyone was hungry! Cold meats, bread, fresh country butter, and
milk, with iced tea for those who desired it, and strawberry jelly
and chocolate cake for dessert, made a bill of fare tempting enough
to suit the most fastidious member of the party.

With the supply of gasoline replenished, both in the regular and
reserve tanks, with the moon peeping over the undulating land to the
eastward, shedding