The Secret of Red Gate Farm - Carolyn Keene [14]
“Oh!” screamed Bess. “‘This is terrible!”
Nancy pretended to be calm, but she really was very much worried. She decided it would be safer to get away from the dangerous line of trees, any one of which might crash down on them!
“How long is this stretch of woods?” she asked Joanne.
“Oh, perhaps five hundred feet.”
“We’ll have to chance it.” Nancy drove as quickly as she dared in the darkness. The girls breathed sighs of relief when open country was reached.
But Joanne’s fears were not yet over. “Watch out!” she advised. “There’s a sharp, treacherous curve very soon, just before we take the turnoff for the farm.”
By now the brief storm had moved off to a distant sky and it was easier to see the boundaries of the slippery road. Nancy rounded a curve, but as the car took the turn, the wheels on the right side sank into the thick mud of a ditch, bringing the car to a lurching halt.
The unexpected mishap stunned the girls for a moment. Finally Bess found her voice. “Now what?”
Nancy endeavored to drive the car out of the ditch, but it was useless. “Well”—she sighed—“we may as well jump out and examine the car. Keep your fingers crossed.”
They found the convertible at a lopsided angle. The right wheels, however, were firmly anchored by the mud. The four girls attempted to push the car, but without success.
“I’ll look in the trunk,” Nancy said, “to see if there’s something to help us.”
Nancy found two pieces of heavy burlap. Bess and George put them in front of the two back wheels for traction. Then they gathered and broke up some brush to make a mat for each tire.
“I hope this works,” Joanne said, taking her place to assist in pushing the car. “There probably won’t be anyone else using this desolate road who could help us. ”I—I’m afraid we won’t reach the farm in time!”
Nancy stepped into the car and started the motor, easing the gas and slowly rocking the convertible back and forth. Inch by inch the tires crept forward, finally catching on the burlap and brush and rolling out of the ditch.
“We’ve done it!” Bess shouted proudly.
“With a little outside help!” George panted with a grin. The girls laughed from sheer relief.
They started off again, more slowly than before. But they had gone only a mile when a new storm seemed to be coming up. In less than five minutes complete darkness descended again, bringing another deluge of rain. Deafening thunderclaps instantly followed vivid forks of lightning.
Of necessity, Nancy once more kept the automobile at a snail’s pace. It was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Anxiously Joanne kept glancing at her watch. “It’s five-fifteen,” she announced nervously.
Nancy tried to assuage the worried girl’s fears. “This storm may have delayed your grandmother’s caller.”
The wind and rain continued unabated. As the convertible climbed the brow of a hill, there was a brilliant flash of lightning. George, who was seated in front with Nancy, screamed, “Don’t hit her!”
Nancy jammed on the brakes so quickly that the rear of the car skidded around sideways in the road.
“Who?” she demanded, horrified.
“The woman in the road! Didn’t you see her? Maybe she’s under the car!”
Heartsick, Nancy jumped out one door, Bess another. They peered under the car, alongside it, in back of it. They could see no one.
“Are you sure you saw a woman?” Nancy inquired.
Just then another streak of lightning illuminated the sky, and Bess called out, “There goes someone running across that field!”
Nancy glanced quickly in that direction and saw the running figure of a woman. At that same moment the woman looked back over her shoul der, revealing a thin, haggard face. Nancy judged her to be in her early fifties.
All four girls stared in mystification. Nancy and Bess returned to the car and the journey was resumed.
“Why would any sane person be walking in such a storm?” Bess spoke up finally.
“She’s headed in the direction of the cavern,” said Joanne, and explained that they were now nearing the farm. “Maybe she’s one of those strange people over there!”
Nancy and her friends were