series of jerks, and
then came one final jerk that brought the automobile to a standstill and
all but sent the Rover boys flying over the engine hood.

"Well, we've stopped!" panted Tom, when he could catch his breath. "I
guess the brake held somehow."

"No, it didn't," answered Sam. "It's another brake, one that Dick heaved
overboard." And he pointed to the ropes and hooks. One hook, the
biggest, had caught in a rock lining the gully, and the ropes were in a
mess around the wheels and the rear axle.

"Good for you!" murmured Tom. "It saved us from running into that
carriage."

"Are you men going on?" cried one of the ladies, noticing that the
automobile had come to a stop.

"Not just yet!" sang out Dick. "You can go ahead if you wish. We'll wait
until you get down to the bottom of the hill--and maybe we'll wait
longer," he added in an undertone.

"You scared us nearly to death," said another of the ladies, tartly; and
then the carriage went on and was soon lost to sight on a side road.

The three youths alighted, and after blocking the wheels with stones, so
that it might not get away unexpectedly, commenced an inspection of the
car.

"The ropes wouldn't do much damage but the hooks might," said Dick. "But
I couldn't think of anything else to do."

"It was grand of you to do that," answered Tom, warmly. "I was a fool to
let her out as I did," he added bluntly. "I'll know better next time."

That was Tom, often headstrong but quick to acknowledge a fault.

Not without much difficulty did the three youths manage to get the ropes
disentangled from the rear wheels and the back axle. It was found that
one of the hooks had gone into a tire, causing a blow-out that, in the
general excitement, nobody had noticed. But otherwise everything seemed
to be all right, apart, of course, from the broken brake rod, and the
boys were thankful.

"I guess we can manage to run to the nearest blacksmith shop," said
Dick, "and there we can get the rod mended."

"What a lucky thing that big hook caught in the rock!" cried Sam.

"It's the one thing that saved us from going into the carriage,"
returned Tom, and his face was very sober as he spoke. For a time being
he did not feel like running the car further and readily agreed to let
Sam take hold, after another tire had been adjusted. To keep the
automobile from going down the remainder of the hill too rapidly, they
allowed one of the ropes to remain on the rear axle, and to th