“You are right,” said the captain, “but I have an idea.”

The place in which they had stopped was shaded upon both sides by great trees.  As far as could be seen the woods continued.  A hundred yards back over the road they had traversed was a sharp curve, hiding any approaching vehicle from sight.  Ahead, the road stretched out in a straight line for a considerable distance.

“I figure this way,” said the captain hurriedly, “the machine as it is is doing us no good, is it?”

“It certainly is not,” replied the lieutenant.

“And, if we wait here long enough to fix it it won’t do us any good either, will it?”

“Certainly not.”

“Then my idea is this:  Head the machine straight down the road, lash the wheel fast and start her off.  If I am not mistaken, it will run along the road at least to the next curve.  Even from here you can see the steep embankment at the curve.  When the machine hits that curve it will go over.

“Now, if that embankment is as steep as it looks, the car, when it hits the bottom, will be out of sight.  In the meantime, we hide here until our pursuers pass.  The chances are they will continue past the curve, never seeing the wreckage at the bottom of the embankment, believing we are still ahead of them.  Then we can continue our journey afoot.  What do you think of that idea?”

“I think it is first-rate,” declared Hal, and the others agreed with him.

“But won’t they discover, when they reach the next town, that we haven’t passed through?” asked Chester.

“They probably will,” was the reply; “but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.  Besides, there is little doubt in my mind that the authorities in the next town know of our coming.  We couldn’t be so fortunate a second time.”

Accordingly the plan suggested was carried out.  Hal elected to get in the car and start it, and, as it took a flying leap forward, he hurled himself from the machine to the soft grass beside the road.  He was considerably shaken up, but not badly hurt.

Then the five stood and watched the car in its mad flight down the road.

“I hope that the fact of a tire being bursted won’t stop it’s sticking to the road,” said Chester.

Fortunately the car continued its journey in as straight a line as the best chauffeur in the world could have driven, and the five companions strained their eyes as it neared the distant curve.

“It’s almost there!” cried Hal.  “I hope it makes a good jump; and I hope that embankment is steep.”

“And I hope that she makes her leap before our pursuers heave in sight, which is more to the point,” declared Chester.

Again they strained their eyes, watching the flight of the mad car.  And then the car reached the embankment.

“There she goes!” cried Chester, and the big machine, as though making a desperate leap, hurled itself into space, where it soared for a moment like a huge bird, and then disappeared from sight.