the French captain, in despair. "Now we are
up against it. What shall we do?"

"Fix it," retained Chester briefly.

He got out, and the rest, including the wounded chauffeur, followed suit.

At that moment Chester bethought himself of the pursuing machine, and
said:

"We haven't time. Our pursuers will be upon us."

"You are right," said the captain, "but I have an idea."

The place in which they had stopped was shaded upon both sides by great
trees. As far as could be seen the woods continued. A hundred yards back
over the road they had traversed was a sharp curve, hiding any
approaching vehicle from sight. Ahead, the road stretched out in a
straight line for a considerable distance.

"I figure this way," said the captain hurriedly, "the machine as it is is
doing us no good, is it?"

"It certainly is not," replied the lieutenant.

"And, if we wait here long enough to fix it it won't do us any good
either, will it?"

"Certainly not."

"Then my idea is this: Head the machine straight down the road, lash
the wheel fast and start her off. If I am not mistaken, it will run
along the road at least to the next curve. Even from here you can see
the steep embankment at the curve. When the machine hits that curve it
will go over.

"Now, if that embankment is as steep as it looks, the car, when it hits
the bottom, will be out of sight. In the meantime, we hide here until our
pursuers pass. The chances are they will continue past the curve, never
seeing the wreckage at the bottom of the embankment, believing we are
still ahead of them. Then we can continue our journey afoot. What do you
think of that idea?"

"I think it is first-rate," declared Hal, and the others agreed with him.

"But won't they discover, when they reach the next town, that we haven't
passed through?" asked Chester.

"They probably will," was the reply; "but we will cross that bridge when
we come to it. Besides, there is little doubt in my mind that the
authorities in the next town know of our coming. We couldn't be so
fortunate a second time."

Accordingly the plan suggested was carried out. Hal elected to get in the
car and start it, and, as it took a flying leap forward, he hurled
himself from the machine to the soft grass beside the road. He was
considerably shaken up, but not badly hurt.

Then the five stood and watched the car in its mad flight down the road.

"I hope that the fact of a tire being bursted won't stop it's sticking to