anxious to make the town before the twilight faded into nightfall.

Suddenly Cora, who was in the lead, grabbed the emergency brake
and quickly shut off the power.

"What's that?" she asked. "Something straight ahead. Don't you
see it, Hazel?"

Hazel stood up and peered into the gathering darkness.

"Yes; it looks like an auto. Perhaps some one got disabled, and
had to leave the machine," she replied.

"Perhaps," returned Cora, going along carefully.

"It is an auto," declared Hazel presently, as they were almost
upon the object in the roadway.

"The auto stage!" exclaimed Cora. "Don't be frightened, Hazel,"
she hurried to say. "Paul is not in it. He must have gone on
with the mail."

Hazel sank down in the cushions and covered her eyes. Somehow she
could not bear to look at the deserted auto stage.

The other girls were coming along cautiously - they saw that
something was the matter.

The standing machine was directly in the road; it instantly struck
Cora that this was strange. Who could have been so careless as to