“Well, I mean we haven’t really done anything worth while,” went on Ned. “And it’s my idea that my dad, and yours, Bob, and Jerry’s mother, who is as good a dad as any fellow could want--I think they are going to put the brakes on us.”
“Oh, make us cut out some of the gay and carefree life we’ve been living. Settle down and----”
“Not much!” cried Bob. “Not if I can help it!”
“Of course not,” put in Ned. “I mean just settle down a bit, that’s all.”
They swung around a curve in the road, and as they did so they saw a powerful roadster coming toward them, driven by a man who was the sole occupant. He was speeding forward at a fast clip.
“That fellow had better settle down!” exclaimed Jerry. “He’s going too fast to make this turn, and this bank is one of the most dangerous around here.”
The boys themselves had safely taken the turn, and come past the steep embankment on which it bordered, but the man in the roadster was approaching it.
“Better yell at him,” suggested Bob. “Maybe he doesn’t know the road.”
“Look out for that turn!” cried Jerry, as the man passed them.
It is doubtful if he heard them. Certainly he did not heed, for he swung around the turn at full speed. A moment later the boys, who had drawn to one side of the road, in order to give the man plenty of room to pass, looked back.
They saw the speeding roadster leave the highway and plunge down the bank, turning over and pinning the driver underneath.
“There he goes!” cried Jerry, jamming on the brakes.
Jerry had put on the brakes so hard that the rear wheels were locked, and they slid along a foot or more, skidding until the automobile came to a stop on one side of the road. Then the three lads leaped out, and started back toward the scene of the accident.
“She’s on fire!” cried Bob, as he pointed to curling smoke arising from the overturned roadster.
“Keep moving!” shouted Jerry. “We’ve got to do something!”
Fortunately, the car was a light one, and it was tilted at such an angle that the combined strength of the three lads on the higher side served to turn it upright once more. The fire was under the bonnet, the covers of which were jammed and bent.
The boys had expected to find a very seriously injured man beneath the car, but, to their surprise, when they righted the machine, the driver, somewhat dusty and dirty, crawled out and stood up, a few scratches on his hands and face alone showing where he was injured, though it was evident from the manner in which he rubbed one arm that it had been at least bruised.