“Goodness, it will he almost dark when we get there now,” wailed Grace, as she slipped into the seat beside Betty.  “And we haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast.”

“What with highway robbers and sheep,” laughed Betty, as she started the engine, “we shall be lucky if we get there at all.”

“Oh, Betty, if you love me don’t mention that awful highwayman again,” begged Grace, looking uneasily into the shadows of the wood.  “I don’t want to have any more thrills like that as long as I live.”

“Let’s hope we won’t,” said Betty fervently.

“It’s a pity there is no telephone along this road—­ we could notify the folks at Deepdale,” remarked Mollie.

“Humph, if we did that they might get so scared that they’d send for us to come home,” came from Amy.

“That’s so!” came from the other Outdoor Girls quickly.

“Well, as I said before, no more thrills like that for yours truly,” repeated Grace.

But little did the girls know that in the weeks to follow they would have more and more startling thrills than they had ever experienced before.

CHAPTER XIV

 Nothing human

They might have reached Wild Rose Lodge before dusk, in spite of Grace’s gloomy prediction, if everything had gone well then.  But it seemed that the evil genius of bad luck was not yet through with them.

They were scarcely five miles from their destination when, bang! went a report that made the girls clutch at each other wildly.  At first they jumped to the conclusion that they were being held up again, but close on the heels of the first thought came the conviction of the truth.  Mollie had had a blowout!

Betty, looking behind, saw the big car stop and brought her own little roadster to a standstill once more.

“There is nothing wrong with our tires, is there?” she asked of Grace.  “Look over your side, Gracie, and see.”

Finding nothing amiss, they jumped out and ran back to Mollie to offer assistance.  Mollie was eyeing the flat tire gloomily and saying things under her breath that none of the girls could catch.  Then as Betty spoke to her she seemed to come to life and ran around to the back of the machine.

“Of course you can help,” she answered, working to release the extra tire.  “I would like to see you get out of it.  Lucky I bought an extra tire before we started, though I did hope,” here she glared at the girls as if it were all their fault, “that I wouldn’t have to use it so soon.  We’ve had more trouble on this ride than any I can remember.  A hold-up, sheep and—­ this!”

“Well, there is no use talking about it,” Betty reminded her cheerfully.  “The less we talk, the harder we can work and the sooner we shall get started again.”

“Yes, that’s all very well,” grumbled Mollie, as she fumbled for her tools; “but you don’t know this place as well as I do.”