Page:Three speeds forward.djvu/59

 mine, with a humorous expression, as though the joke were on us.

The reverse band was all right, and tightened nicely, and my first panic gave way as I saw I was sure to get home. The worst of that Bolinas road was its frightful hilliness, and there was bound to be a lot of working one's passage. So I screwed down the cover again, put on my switch, cranked up, and, getting Olaff on board, proceeded to back Dandy Dick in the direction of Studdingham. It was slow work and needed care, and there was the bothering apprehension of overheating. But I got up one hill all right, and smartly whisking her around on the decline of the next, I managed to throw in my high-speed clutch and scoot. It was like getting a pair of wings, and if the road in front hadn't been all grades, I should have sizzled home in no time.

The next hill wasn't such a terror, and I managed to nurse Dandy to the top by ignoring her little pounds for mercy, and doing