"She did not!" cried Jack. "And if you say so you're--" "Jack!" exclaimed his sister. "Well, he knows it was his own fault," concluded Jack, not wishing to accuse Ida. Sid looked a bit worried. "We'll tow you," said Cora simply. "Thank you," responded Sid. "Got a rope?" asked Walter. "Here's one," answered the owner of the Streak, producing a strong rope from the rear of his runabout. "Looks as if you were in the habit of getting towed," remarked Walter. "Yes. I've had bad luck with this car." Sid and Walter were soon busy arranging the two cars, so that the big auto would tow the disabled one. "I want the boys to separate," whispered Cora to Bess. "I'm so Afraid Jack and Sid will quarrel." "Not if they keep as far apart as they are now," was the answer, for Jack had gotten back into his own car, and was looking on. Ida, too, seemed to keep herself at a distance from the other girls. "Well, I guess that will hold," remarked Walter as he put the last knot in the rope. "Here comes Ed Foster!" suddenly exclaimed Jack as the puffing of an auto was heard and a machine came in sight. "Now I guess we're all here. Hello, Ed!" "Hello, yourself," replied Ed. "Well, what's up now? Somebody turned turtle?" "No, but somebody's turned--" began Jack, on the point of saying something uncomplimentary about Sid, but Cora interrupted him. "We had a race, and this is how I--that is, we--won it," she said with a laugh. Ed stepped out of his car and walked to where Sid's silent machine stood. "Radiator, eh?" he questioned. "A bad break." "That's what. Cora collided with me--but it was partly my fault," added Sid quickly for jack's benefit. "And look at my nice, new mud guard," spoke Cora. "See how it hangs down, like a dog's broken leg. Isn't it a shame? I guess we'll have to tear it off, so we can run." "Let me look at it," suggested Ed. "Maybe I can spring it back into place." "I never thought of that,"--remarked Walter. Ed was searching in his tool-box, and presently drew out some strong string. "I never go without a bit of cord, a knife and some pins for just such emergencies as these," he said with a laugh. "I never know when I may be shipwrecked on a desert island." Ed skillfully sprung the guard back, and as one of the rivets was torn out, he lashed the protector into place. It was only a temporary repair, but it would protect the occupants of the car from a shower of dust or mud. "There," said Ed finally. "I guess that will answer. The road ahead is pretty muddy. Too much moisture from a sprinkling-cart, I guess. I caught some of it." Cora turned to see if everything was in readiness for a start, and was surprised to find Mary in close conversation with Ida. Both girls and Sid were in a group an the other side of the Whirlwind. And another thing Cora noticed was that the faces of both Ida and Mary were unusually flushed.