"I don't know," replied Barbara. "I would not like to go to war, and I'm awfully afraid I'd run from a burglar in the dark."

"Who'd have thought Barbara would confess to being a coward?" Grace broke in, just to see what Bab would say. But Bab wouldn't answer. "I don't know what I would do," she ended.

"Anyhow," said Miss Ruth, from her position of dignity on the chauffeur's seat, "I should be allowed to vote on laws for motor cars, as long as I can run a machine without a man."

"My dear Ruth," interposed Miss Sallie at last, "I beg of you, don't vote in my lifetime. Girls, in my day, would never have dreamed of such a thing."

"Oh, well, Auntie," answered Ruth, "I wouldn't worry about it now. Who knows when I may have a chance to vote?"

Ruth was worried by the clouds overhead, so she ran her machine at full speed. It took some time and ingenuity to make their way through Bridgeport, a big, bustling town with crowded streets. By this time the clouds had lifted, and, for the next hour, Ruth forgot the rain. She and Barbara were having a serious talk on the front seat. Mollie and Grace, with their arms around each other, were almost as quiet as Aunt Sallie; indeed, they were more so, for that good soul was gently snoring.

"If we should have any adventures, Bab," said Ruth, "I wonder if we'd be equal to them? I'll wager you would be. Father says that when people are not too sure of themselves before a thing happens, they are likely to be brave at the critical minute."

The car was going down a hill with a steep incline. Ruth's hand was on the brake. Biff! Biff! Bang! Bang! A cannon ball seemed to have exploded under them. Miss Sallie sat up very straight, with an expression of great dignity; Grace and Mollie gave little screams, and Barbara looked as though she were willing to be defended if anything very dreadful had happened.

Only Ruth dared laugh. "You're not killed, girls," she said. "You might as well get used to that racket; it happens to the best regulated motor cars. It is only a bursted tire; but it might have been kind enough to have happened in town, instead of on this deserted country road. Oh, dear me!" she next e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, for, before she could stop her car, it had skidded, and the front wheel was imbedded in a deep hole in the road.

"Get out, please," Ruth ordered. "Grace, will you find a stone for me? I must try to brace this wheel. Did I say something about skill, instead of strength, and not needing a man?" Ruth had taken off her coat and rolled up her sleeves in a business-like fashion.

"I have helped father with a punctured tire before." She tugged at the old tire, which hung limp and useless by this time. She was talking very cheerfully, though Aunt Sallie's woeful expression would have made any girl nervous. At the same time dark clouds had begun to appear overhead.

"You'd better get out the rain things," Ruth conceded. "I can't get this fixed very soon. Queer no one pa.s.ses along this way. It's a lonesome kind of road. I wonder if we are off the main track?"

"It is a country lane, not a main road. I saw that at once," said Miss Sallie.

"Then why didn't you tell us, Aunt Sallie?"

"My eyes were closed to avoid the dust," replied Aunt Sallie firmly.

Poor Ruth had a task on her hands. If only the car had not skidded into that ugly hole, she could have managed; but it was impossible for her, with the help of all the girls, to lift the car enough to slip the new tire over the rim.

Mollie and Grace were taking Miss Sallie a little walk through the woods at the side of the road to try to make the time pa.s.s and to give Ruth a chance. Grace had winked at her slyly as they departed.

"Barbara," Ruth said finally, in tragic tones, "I'm in a fix and I might as well confess it. I know it all comes of my boasting that I didn't need a man. My kingdom for one just for a few minutes! Do you suppose there is a farmhouse near where we could find some one to help me get this wheel out of the rut? I'd surrender this job to a man with pleasure."

"I don't believe we are on the right road, Ruth, dear." Barbara felt so responsible that she was almost in tears. Ominous thunder clouds were rolling overhead, and Bab tried not to notice the large splash of rain that had fallen on her nose.

"Don't worry Bab, dear," urged Ruth. "I should have looked out for the road, too. It can't be helped."

"But I am going to help. You can just rely on that," announced Barbara, shaking her brown curls defiantly. She had taken off her hat in the exertion of trying to help Ruth. "We pa.s.sed a sleepy-looking old farm a little way back, but I am going to wake it up!"

She heard Miss Sallie and the girls returning to the shelter of the car, for the rain had suddenly come down in torrents. Down the road sped Bab, shaking her head like a little brown Shetland pony.

Miss Sallie was in the depths of despair.

"Child," she said sternly to Ruth, "get into the car out of that mud. We will remain here, under the shelter of the covers until morning. Then, if we are alive, I myself will walk to the nearest town and telegraph your father. We will take the next train back to New York." Miss Sallie spoke with the extreme severity due to a rheumatic shoulder that had been disregarded.

"Please let me keep on trying, Aunt Sallie," pleaded Ruth. "I'll get the tire on, or some one will come along to help me. I am so sorry, for I know it is all my fault."

"Never mind, Ruth; but you are to come into this car." And Ruth, covered with mud, was obliged to give in.

"Where, I should like to know," demanded Miss Sallie, "is Barbara?"

Through the rain they could hear the patter, patter of a horse's hoofs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: On Came Barbara, Riding Bareback.]

"Cheer up, Ruth, dear," whispered Grace. "What difference does a little rain make? Here is some one coming along the road!"

Ruth's eyes were full of tears; Aunt Sallie's threat to stop their trip was more than she could bear; but she was soon smiling.

"Why, Barbara Thurston," the girls called out together, "it can't be you!" On came Barbara, riding bareback astride an old horse, the animal's big feet clattering, its mane and tail soaked with rain.

"Great heavens!" said Miss Sallie, and closed her eyes.

Barbara rode up to the automobile, her hand clasped tightly in the horse's mane.

"I'm as right as can be, Miss Sallie. I went back to that sleepy old farm, knocked and knocked for help, and called and called, but n.o.body would answer. Just as I gave up all hope, old Dobbin came to the porch and neighed, as if inquiring what I was doing on his premises. Like a flash I put out my hand, as though to pat him, grabbed him by the mane, hopped up here, and now you see the best lady bareback rider from Rinkhem's Circus. I led you into this mess; now I'm going to get you out. I shall ride old Dobbin into town and come back with help." Bab declaimed this, ending out of breath.

"Never mind, Miss Sallie," Mollie explained, seeing her consternation.

"Bab never rode any other way than bareback when she was a little girl.

Do let her go!"

"Very well; but she may be arrested as a horse thief. That is all I have to say in the matter." Miss Sallie sank back on her cushions, but Barbara had clattered off before she could be forbidden to go. She caught the words, "horse thief," as she rode as fast as old Dobbin would carry her.

"It's Barbara to the rescue again!" Ruth shouted after her.

CHAPTER VIII-"FOR WE ARE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS!"

"Suppose I should be arrested!" thought Barbara uncomfortably. "It would be distinctly unpleasant to be hauled off to jail, while Aunt Sallie and the girls remain stuck in the mud, not knowing my fate, and helpless to save me! I may meet old Dobbin's owner at any minute!"

It was after six o'clock, and, because of the heavy storm, was almost dusk. Barbara had decided to go to the end of the lane and find the main road to New Haven, hoping to sooner discover help in that direction.

Before long she came to a fork in the road. By riding close to the sign-post she found a hand pointing: "Nine Miles to New Haven." On she sped through the mud and rain, slipping and sliding on the horse's back, but still holding tight to his mane.

"Stop! h.e.l.lo, there! Why, Mirandy, if that ain't my own hoss, and that girl astride it running off as fast as she can! h.e.l.lo! Stop!" The farmer lashed the horse hitched to his rickety old buggy, and dashed after Barbara, who had ridden past without noticing them. "Stop, thief!"

Down to her wet toes sank Barbara's heart. The worst she had feared had happened. If only she had seen their buggy in time to stop first and ask their help. Now, rushing by them, how could she explain? Horse thief, indeed.

"Oh, please," she said, her voice not quite steady, "I am not exactly running away with your horse; I am only going for help! My friends--"

The farmer grabbed the horse savagely by the mane. "Come on," he said.

"You can tell your story at the nearest police station. I ain't got time fer sech foolishness. What I see, I see with my own eyes. You're plain running away with my hoss!"

"John," pleaded the farmer's wife, "you might listen to the young lady."