CHAPTER XIII

THE WIND VEERS

The car purred along so easily and it was such a delight to manage the wheel without the interference of the chauffeur that Hester did not note the distance she traveled. Nor was she at first aware of the speed. Then she suddenly realized that she had shifted the gear to the highest speed forward, and that a picket fence she passed was merely a blur along the roadside.

But this was a road on which there were few houses, and most of them were back in the fields, in the middle of the farms that bordered the pike.

"This will never do," thought Hester, and she began to manipulate the levers and finally brought the car to a stop. The roadway was narrow and she would have to back to turn. But this was one of the very things she desired to learn how to do; and that officious Joseph was always fussing when he was beside her.

"How many miles have I come, I wonder?" she asked herself, looking about.

She was on a ridge of land overlooking a narrow valley. At the end of the valley the road seemed to dip from the ridge, and it disappeared in a thick haze of blue smoke.

"The fire must be over that way," she thought. "Shall I run that far and see what it means? The wind is not blowing toward me."

She started the car once more. The auto rolled on, but she noticed that it wasn't firing regularly.

"Hullo! Is it going to kick up rusty now and here?" muttered Hester, and she stopped. Having learned that much, she opened the carburetor to see if the gasoline was flowing all right. Then she tried a dozen times to start the car, without success. Suddenly she stood up with a jerk. In the distance she heard a growing roar--the oncoming rush of a powerful car.

Fortunately she had stopped on the side of the road. There was room for another car to pass. And out of the blue smoke ahead it appeared with startling suddenness, hurled like a missile from a gun directly up the road toward her.

She knew the car almost instantly. It was the Beldings' auto and it was crowded with young folk. She knew where they had been. The next week the girls of Central High had been invited to Keyport to play the first team at basketball of the High School in that town.

Hester had heard all about the game the day before with the West High girls. With Roberta Fish in Hester's old position at forward center, the girls of Central High had swept all before them. They had beaten their opponents with a good lead. Of course, the West High team was not as strong as the East High had been; but Roberta had done well and victory had, for the first time in months, perched upon the banner of Central High.

A committee had been appointed to go over and see the Keyport managers, and now it was returning. The big car was driven by Chet Belding, with Launcelot Darby beside him. Laura, Jess, Bobby, Nellie, and the Lockwood twins filled the tonneau comfortably.

Hester hoped that the Belding car would wheel right by and that her school fellows would not notice her. But Chet saw the car stalled, and Laura's quick eye detected the lone girl standing with her back to them, looking off across the valley.

"What's the matter with that girl and her car?" demanded Lance, as Chet slowed down.

"It's Hester. Mr. Grimes has bought a car at last, I understand," said Laura, leaning over the back of the seat and speaking to the boys. "Is she in trouble, do you think?"

"I'll bet she is!" exclaimed Lance.

"And out on this road alone. Where's the chauffeur?" said Chet.

"And if the wind should change!" cried Nellie Agnew.

"By Jove, that's so!" ejaculated Chet, bringing his car to a full stop right beside the stalled auto.

"Hullo, Miss Grimes!" he sang out. "Can we help you? What's the matter with your car?"

Hester saw it was useless to refuse to see them then. Besides, she did not want to be stalled there for hours.

"That's what I've been trying to find out," she said, pointedly speaking to the boy, not to the girls.

"Great machines," drawled Lance. "When you think you know all about 'em they kick up and give you a lot of trouble. Isn't that so, Chet?"

Chet was getting from under the wheel, and grunted. But Laura hopped out before him, came to Hester's side of the car, and asked:

"Did it stop of itself?"

"No. It wasn't firing regularly. I looked at the carburetor to see if it was all right. Then I tried to start her and couldn't," said Hester, ungraciously.

Laura was going over the wiring to see if there were no loose contacts before Chet came to them. She turned the fly wheel far enough to get the buzz of the spark coils.

"Go ahead, Sis!" chuckled Chet. "You know so much you'll be taking our old mill to pieces pretty soon, I reckon."

Hester stood by and bit her lip with vexation. She was almost on the point of driving Laura away from the car, rather than have her enemy--for so she considered Mother Wit--help her out of her trouble. But night was coming on and she did not want to stand there much longer, if the car could be started.

Laura removed a plug, grounded it on a cylinder and turned the wheel to a sparking point to note the quality of the spark and the strength of the battery. Then she ticked the carburetor and opened the small cock at the bottom.

"You're getting your gloves all messy, Laura!" called Jess from the other car.

"Hush!" commanded Chet, grinning, and holding up his hand. "Do not disturb the priestess of automobiling at her devotions. There will be something 'didding' in a minute--now watch."

But Laura was serious--and interested. She closed the cock and felt along the gasoline pipe to the valve rod. This seemed to interest her particularly. In a moment she straightened up and stood back, saying to Hester:

"You try the engine. Maybe she'll work now."

Hester scrambled into her seat and tried the starter. The engine began to buzz like a saw-mill.

"Great Scott, Laura!" cried her brother. "What did you do to it?"

"Turned on the gasoline," said his sister, drily. "When Hester looked at her carburetor she turned it off. No wonder the engine wouldn't run."

"Thanks," muttered Hester, in a choked tone, while the crowd in the other auto smothered their laughter, and she prepared to start the car when Chet should have stepped aside.

"Hold on!" said young Belding. "This isn't any way to be traveling, Miss Hester."

"Why not?" she snapped at him, for the situation was getting on her nerves now.

"The wind is likely to change. If it veers around it will drive the fire directly up this road," said Chet.

"What's burning?" demanded the girl, sharply.

"The whole forest back yonder through the cut. We came through a big cloud of smoke."

"If you got through I guess I can," Hester said, ungratefully, and the next moment started her car, which rolled swiftly away along the turnpike.

The fact was, she did not want to try to turn the machine while they were watching her. She knew she should be awkward about it. And Laura Belding had displayed her superiority over her once already--and that was enough!

The big car purred again joyously, and the roadway slipped behind like a ribbon running over a spool. In half a minute Hester and her car had dipped into the valley and were running through the cut between the hills. The Belding car was out of sight.

But suddenly she became aware that the smoke was thick here. This deep cut was filled with it. And the fumes were not only choking; there was heat with the smoke.

A shift of wind drove a thick cloud out of the forest and she had to shut her eyes. This was dangerous work. She knew better than to try to run the car on high speed when she could not see twenty feet beyond it.

When she reduced speed she was cognizant of a roaring sound from the forest. For a moment she thought a big wind was coming.

Then she knew better. It was the fire. Not far away the flames were devouring the forest hungrily--and the wind was behind the flames!

There must have already been a change in the air-current, as Chet had prophesied. The forest fire was driving right into this narrow cut between the hills. To be caught here by the flames would not only mean the finish of this brand new car, but Hester knew that there would be no escape for her from such a situation.