Page:Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout.djvu/217

Rh with rather gloomy thoughts that the lad entered his car, in which Mr. Sharp had already taken his place. Mr. Damon went to the grandstand to watch the race.

"I wanted Mary to see me win," thought our hero, for he had grimly set his mind on coming in ahead.

There was a great crowd in the grandstand, and scattered about the big track, which took in a large extent of territory. In spite of its size—five miles around—it seemed solidly packed. for the entire length with autos, containing gay parties who had come to see the electric contest. There was a band playing gay airs, as Tom guided his machine through the entrance gate, and onto the track.

The judges made their final inspection. There were twenty cars entered, but it was obvious that some of them would not last long, as their battery capacity was not large enough. Their owners might have relied on recharging, but how they could do this under the usual slow system, and hope to win, Tom could not see. He hoped to run the entire distance on the single charge, but, if by some accident part of his current should leak away, his battery could be charged in a short time, by means of his new system, to run for a considerable distance, or