Page:Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car.djvu/51

Rh out the clutch, but there was no need; for the child, with the perverseness of youth, had turned and was running back toward the gate, evidently frightened by the frantic tooting of the horn, the bulb of which Mollie pressed spasmodically.

"Oh my! What a scare!" panted Mollie, as she slipped in low gear, and started up again, without coming to a full stop.

"Well, I don't want to seem mean, but he is getting just what he deserves," said Grace, looking back, "and that is—a spanking. Toddlers must be made to learn the danger of rushing blindly across auto roads."

"I suppose so," agreed Mollie. "I could just see little Paul then," she went on. "If I had hit that child"

She did not finish, but they all knew what she meant.

Deepdale was reached without further incident, and the girls agreed that Mollie had piloted her car wonderfully well for a beginner.

"Of course I've got lots to learn," she said to her chums, "but that will come gradually, the demonstrator said. One learns, after a while, to steer instinctively, and to do everything almost automatically—like slowing down, applying the brakes and so on. Now you girls must come over to-night, and we'll"