deary. You need not be back till supper time. You have earned your
little outing, that's sure and sartain."

Before Helen had picked her up on the road to the Red Mill that first
day, Ruth had never ridden in a motor car. On that occasion they had
traveled very slowly, while the girls talked. But now, when she was
seated beside her new friend, Helen ran the auto on its high gear, and
they shot away up the level river road at a pace that almost took
Ruth's breath away,

"Up here among the foothills is the big Minturn Pond Dam," Tom said,
leaning forward to speak to their guest. "It's twenty miles above your
uncle's dam and is a deal bigger. And some say it is not safe-- Wait,
Nell! Slow down so that we can see the face of the dam from the
Overlook."

The speed of the car was immediately reduced under Helen's
manipulation, and then she swerved it into a short side road running
toward the river, and they came out upon a little graveled plaza in
the center of a tiny park, which gave a splendid view of the valley in
both directions.

But the young people in the motor car turned their eyes to the west.
There the face of the Minturn dam could be discerned; and even as they
looked at it they seemed to see it changing-- dissolving, covered with
mist, and spouting geysers of what at first seemed like smoke. But it
was Tom who realized the truth.

"She's burst!" he cried. "The old dam's burst! There she goes in a
dozen places!"