Page:Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car.djvu/17

Rh "Here we go!" cried Grace, as the motor throbbed and hummed.

Carefully Mollie threw out the clutch, and slipped in first speed. Then releasing the clutch pedal gradually she felt the car move slowly forward. A flush of pleasure came to her face; for, though she had several times performed this feat of late, the demonstrator had always sat beside her. Now she was doing it alone.

"Fine!" cried Betty, as the car gathered speed.

"You're all right!" Mr. Ransom called after the girls.

From first to second gear, and then in another moment to high, was performed by Mollie without a hitch. Then she advanced the spark and gas levers.

"Well, so far—so good!" spoke Amy, with a sigh of relief.

"I knew Mollie could do it," declared Betty. "Look out for that wagon, my dear," she cried, a second later.

"I see it," and Mollie gave it such a wide berth that she sent her car needlessly to the grassy part of the country highway that led out of Deepdale.

"I don't want more than my half of the road," good-naturedly called the farmer who was driving the horse-drawn vehicle. "If all motorists were