The Motor Girls | Page 5

again begged Isabel, leaning over toward the front seat. "This is such a steep hill."
"All right, I won't," and Cora placed her foot more firmly on the brake pedal, while she was ready to grasp the emergency lever quickly, in case anything happened.
"Oh, there's Ida!" suddenly cried Elizabeth as a small runabout loomed up in front of them.
"And Sid Wilcox. I wonder what she finds interesting in that--that lazy chap?"
"A companion--that's all," replied her sister. "I think Ida is about as unenergetic a girl as I ever knew."
"Funny thing," said Cora, speaking loudly enough to be heard above the noise of the motor, "how she manages to keep going. She rides as often in Sid's car as if--well, as if she was his own sister."
"Oftener than most sisters," added Belle significantly.
"They have just left her friend, who was on from New City, at the depot," said Bess. "It's quite handy to have a chum with a motor-car--even if it does happen to be a chap like Sid."
"Well, I guess Ida's harmless, even if she is jealous," said Cora. "I do believe that's all that ails Ida--just plain jealousy."
"Maybe," assented Isabel.
They rode along for some time, coasting down the steeper parts of the hill, and running easily where there was a level stretch. They were now approaching the worst part of the descent. From this point there was quite a steep slant to the level highway, which the railroad crossed at grade, and approached on a curve.
There was a long-drawn, shrill whistle.
"What's that?" exclaimed Elizabeth.
"The train!" cried Isabel. "Oh, the train! Cora, the train is coming!"
"I hear it," spoke Cora calmly, but she pressed her foot down harder on the brake pedal, and tried to use the compression of the cylinders as a retarding force, as Paul had showed her.
"Can't you slow up?" pleaded Elizabeth. There was a note of alarm in her voice.
"I'm--I'm trying to!" almost shouted Cora, as she exerted more strength on the brake lever. "I've done all I know, now, but but we don't seem to be stopping!"
She spoke the last words in a curiously quiet voice.
"Put on the brakes!" called Bess.
"They are on!" said Cora fiercely.
"Oh, Cora!" screamed Isabel. "I see the train! There at the foot of the hill! We'll run into it! I'm going to jump! We can't stop!"
"Sit still!" commanded Cora energetically.
Elizabeth covered her face with her hands. She shrank back into her seat. Her sister leaned up against her. Below could be heard the puffing of the train. Then the engineer, seeing the auto rushing down to destruction, blew shrieking whistles, as if that could help.
Cora was frantically pulling on the brake lever. Her face was now white with fear, but even in the midst of this terror she felt a curious calmness. It was just as if she were looking at some picture of the scene. She thought she was miles and miles away. Her foot was pressed down so hard on the brake pedal that it felt as if her shoe would burst off.
But the car slid along, nearer and nearer the track, along which the train was thundering--rushing to meet the auto-to annihilate it.
"Stop! Stop!" screamed Isabel. "Stop!" She rose in her seat.
"Sit down!" commanded Cora.
"But stop!" pleaded Isabel. "We'll all be killed! Stop! Oh, Cora, stop!"
"I'm trying to!" was the grim reply. "But--I can't the brake--the brake is jammed!"
The last words came out jerkily, for Cora was pulling on the brake handle with all her force.
Nearer and nearer sounded the approaching train. The auto was sliding down the hill with ever-increasing speed, but Cora never let go her hold of the steering wheel.
Once more she tried to pull the brake lever. It would not come back another notch. The engineer of the train was blowing more frantic signals. He leaned from his cab window and motioned the auto back. He even seemed to be shouting to them.
Cora braced both feet against the brake pedal.
She took a firmer grasp of the wheel. The seams of her new gloves were starting from the strain. There was a desperate look on her face.
"Oh, we'll be killed! We'll be killed!" screamed Isabel. "We can't get across in time!"
She leaned over, and fell into her sister's arms, while Cora, with a keen glance to either side, stiffened in her seat. There was a bare chance of safety.
CHAPTER III
A SUDDEN ACQUAINTANCE
Despite the tense moment of anxiety, the almost certainty that the auto would crash into the train, Cora's quick eye had seen something that she hoped would enable her to avert the accident.
She knew that she could not stop the machine in time, by any means at her command. There was but one other thing to do. That was to steer to one side.
To the left there was a solid stone wall. To dash