s running away. One of the horses was a spirited
animal and he now had the bit in his teeth. The boys in the rear of the
turnout looked back, to see Peleg Snuggers still lying in the highway.
The stage belonging to Pornell Academy had turned down a side road.

"Can't you stop them, Andy?" asked Jack Ruddy.

"I don't see how," was the answer from the youth on the front seat. "I
can't get hold of the lines."

"We must stop 'em somehow!" cried Fred Century. "Otherwise we'll have a
smash-up, sure!"

"Whoa! whoa!" yelled half a dozen, but these cries only served to scare
the team more, and away they shot along the country road, sending the
carryall swaying from side to side.

"Look! look!" yelled Andy, suddenly. "The regular road is shut off! They
are repairing it!"

The boys gazed ahead and saw that some wooden horses and planking had
been placed across the highway. This side of the barrier some bars had
been taken from a fence, so that those using the road might drive
around, through an orchard belonging to a farmer named Darrison.

"We are going to strike those planks!" cried Dale Blackmore.

"Maybe the team will try to jump them!" came from Fred.

"If they do, they'll smash the carryall sure!" answered Pepper. "Perhaps
we had better drop out at the rear."

"Look out!" sang out somebody, and just then the carryall left the
highway and turned into the orchard. Then came a scraping, as the top of
the turnout hit the low-hanging branches of some apple trees.

"Whoa! stop that wagon!" yelled a man's voice, and Amos Darrison
appeared from among the trees. He made a leap for the team, but they
swerved to one side. Then came a crash, as one of the wheels caught in a
stump. Over went the carryall, with the boys in it. Andy, quick to act,
used his acrobatic abilities by leaping into the branches of a nearby
tree. Then the farmer caught the team and stopped them.

"Anybody hurt?" was Pepper's question, as he crawled out of the wreck.

"I'm all right," answered Fred.

"I got a twisted ankle, that's all," came from Dale, as he limped out.

"Look at Jack!" cried several. "He's hurt!"

All looked and saw the young major of the school battalion lying flat on
his back in the front of the carryall. He had a nasty cut on the temple
and his eyes were closed.

"He is dead!" murmured Pepper, hoarsely.

"Oh, don't say that!" said Andy, in sudden terror. He had just dropped
to the ground.

"If he ain't dead he's putty bad