Dutch Courage and Other Stories by Jack London
page 121 of 125 (96%)
page 121 of 125 (96%)
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Wemple once more, with rush and roar, shot down the V.
For an instant it seemed that the great car would turn over into the sump, but the next instant it was past. It struck the bottom of the hollow a mighty wallop, and bounced and upended to the steep pitch of the climb. Miss Drexel, seized by inspiration or desperation, with a quick movement stripped off her short, corduroy tramping-skirt, and, looking very lithe and boyish in slender-cut pongee bloomers, ran along the sand and dropped the skirt for a foothold for the slowly revolving wheels. Almost, but not quite, did the car stop, then, gathering way, with the others running alongside and shoving, it emerged on the hard road. While they tossed the robes and coats and Miss Drexel's skirt into the bottom of the car and got Mrs. Morgan on board, Davies overtook them. "Down on the bottom!--all of you!" he shouted, as he gained the running board and the machine sprang away. A scattering of shots came from the rear. "Whose business is to live!--hunch down!" Davies yelled in Wemple's ear, accompanying the instruction with an open-handed blow on the shoulder. "Live yourself," Wemple grumbled as he obediently hunched. "Get your head down. You're exposing yourself." The pursuit lasted but a little while, and died away in an occasional distant shot. "They've quit," Davies announced. "It never entered their stupid heads |
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