Finally Bess said she thought it was foolhardy to go on. "Nancy, we'll break a spring on the car or do some other damage," she declared.

"I agree with you," Nancy replied. "But I can't turn around here. I'll have to go on until I come to a wider spot. You notice it's kind of mucky along the edges here-I guess from that rain yesterday. I'm afraid we'd get stuck."

There was a sharp turn a short distance farther on and just beyond it the girls found themselves confronted by a chain across the road. From it hung a sign, on which was printed in large letters:UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PROPERTY.

KEEP OUT!.

"They certainly don't want any visitors here," Bess remarked. "This must be an experimental station of some kind."

Nancy had a hard time getting her convertible turned around. She had to do it inches at a time. But finally she was headed in the opposite direction and started the jolting ride back to the main road.

"Since this wasn't the right road," said Bess, "I wonder where the one to the Zucker farm is. We might be miles from it."

Nancy disagreed. "Mrs. Strook seemed so sure of the spot, I believe we'll find the road not far from here."

"I hope it isn't as bad as this one," Bess worried, as she suddenly flew off the seat. "I'd better stop talking or I'll bite my tongue!" she added with a giggle as she landed.

Bess had no sooner said this when the car stopped abruptly. The engine had died.

"Goodness, what's the matter?" Bess asked.

Nancy's eyes had darted to the fuel tank. "It's empty-completely empty!"

"But you just had the tank filled while we were in Francisville," George told her.

Bess gave an earsplitting scream

"I know," Nancy replied. "It's my guess that one of the rocks we went over punctured a hole in the tank."

"And all our gas is gone?" Bess exclaimed in dismay.

"I'm afraid so," Nancy told her.

The girls got out of the car and looked back of them. There was a long trail of gasoline on the gra.s.s-covered road.

"This is a fine predicament!" said Bess. "Here we are in the middle of nowhere. What are we going to do?" Just then she glanced up and gave an earsplitting scream. "Look!"

Nancy and George glanced up just in time to see a large black bear, its teeth bared, loping toward them. He was not more than fifty feet away!

CHAPTER X.

Secret Notes

IN A flash the three girls jumped inside the car and Nancy pushed the b.u.t.tons for the mechanisms to raise the top and the windows. The job was finished just as the s.h.a.ggy black bear reached them.

"Oh, I hope he won't get nasty and break the windows," Bess said, fright in her voice.

The bruin stood up on its hind legs and sniffed the car. Then he got down and walked round and round it, grunting.

"We're virtually prisoners," said George. "We might be here for days!"

Nancy chuckled. "The bear is bound to get hungry at some time and go off looking for food."

"He might decide not to," said Bess. "He'd probably find us a good meal."

"Don't be silly," George chided her cousin. "Bears like honey and green things-"

Bess was unconvinced. "Well, even if he didn't eat us, he could maul us to death."

Each time the bear had stood on its hind legs to peer inside the car, Nancy had looked intently at the fur around his neck. Finally she detected what she was looking for-a collar.

"I believe this fellow is tame and has escaped from some place," she said.

George grinned. "You mean he's lonesome and wants to crawl in here with us?" She pretended to open the door, whereupon Bess gave one of her loudest screams.

"His master's probably looking for him," said Nancy. "I'll sound the horn to attract his attention."

She began a series of staccato blasts and in about ten minutes the girls saw a man coming down the road. He was wearing a white shirt, riding breeches, and puttees. As he drew nearer, the bear loped up to him. He patted the animal, took a stout chain from his pocket, and slipped it into a ring on the bear's collar. Then the two of them walked over to the car. By this time Nancy had lowered the windows.

"I'm sorry Sally frightened you," the man said. "She got away while I was dozing after lunch."

He introduced himself as Harold Henderson and said he was transporting Sally from one county fair to another. "Thanks for sounding the horn," he said, smiling.

Nancy grinned back. "I'm afraid we had a double reason for doing so. We need a little help ourselves." She explained about the hole in the gas tank.

"Well, one good turn deserves another," Harold Henderson said. "I'll take Sally back to the truck, lock her up so she can't get out again, and then come back here with putty. It'll fix up that hole temporarily. I'll bring some gas too."

He started off.

"We're just plain lucky," Bess remarked, as the girls sat and waited. "I hope that we'll be as lucky finding the Zucker farm."

Harold Henderson returned in a little while, puttied the hole, then covered it with tire tape.

"I'm sure that'll hold till you get to a service station," he said, and poured half a gallon of gasoline from a can into the tank.

He refused to take any money from Nancy. "My help," he said, "is a small return for your aid in recovering my bear. The loss of her would have meant many dollars out of my pocket tonight."

He hopped aboard the convertible and it started up the road. Nancy went very carefully, and when she reached the main road, turned right at Mr. Henderson's direction. Soon they came to his truck where Sally sat on her haunches, looking around. She seemed very content.

"You'll find a service station about half a mile down this road," Henderson said. "It's at the junction of one of the main highways."

When Nancy reached the service station, the temporary work was replaced with a permanent repair job. Then the tank was filled.