hurried a little," Mrs. Irving
suggested, when they had had their laugh out. "With no delay it would
take us almost till sundown to reach The Shadows and I don't want to be
too late."

"All right, here goes to try to back the old bus out of this mud-hole
and turn her around," Frank agreed. "I don't know how long it will take
us, though."

"You had better tell Roy what you are going to do," Grace suggested. "We
don't want any collisions."

Frank obediently thrust out his head, only to jerk it back quickly the
next instant with a startled exclamation. "They are gone!" he said.

"Gone!" the others cried together.

"But they couldn't have gone far," Mrs. Irving added.

"Probably they have motored back to the crossroads to wait for us,"
Allen suggested. "When they saw the blockade they knew there was just
one thing to do and they did it."

"Well, they might at least have told us where they were going," Frank
grumbled. "They should have known Mrs. Irving would be worried."

"They probably thought they'd decamp before the mud got so bad," said
Betty. "Just the same, they should have told us."

"You are right," Mrs. Irving agreed. "However, the only thing to do now
is to follow them as quickly as possible."

For answer, Frank threw in the clutch, and the big machine very slowly
and painfully plowed its way through the clinging mud of the road and
turned its face toward the crossroads and, in all probability, Mollie's
runaway car.

"No wonder they want to repair the road," said Frank when they were well
under way. "If the rest of it is any worse than this I should think they
would need a new one."

"There's Mollie's car, straight ahead," said Grace a moment later. "I
wager they are just sitting there as large as life, laughing at us."

"Let them laugh," said Frank savagely. "It's good to see somebody
happy."

"Well, if that's all you want," sang Betty, cheerily, "just look at
Grace and Mrs. Irving and Allen and me. I, for my part, am having the
time of my life. And look, everybody," she added, "it isn't raining
nearly so hard as it was. We will be seeing the sun next!"

"There is just one thing that is better to have along than the sun,"
said Allen, softly. Mrs. Irving, hearing, smiled knowingly to herself.

When they overtook the car ahead, Roy explained that they had gotten out
of the way to make room for Frank's big car to turn around.

"You surely gave us plenty of it," Frank remarked dryly, upon hearin