"Oh, I'll be careful," returned Tom, lightly. "But about the lights, I
think some of the countrymen ought to be fined for driving in the
darkness as they do. I think----"

"Hark! what sort of a noise is that?" interrupted the younger Rover.

Both boys strained their ears. A shrill honk of a horn had been
followed by a heavy rumble, and now, around a curve of the road, shot
the beams from a single headlight perched on a heavy auto-truck. This
huge truck was coming along at great speed, and it passed the Rovers
with a loud roar, and a scattering of dust and small stones in all
directions.

"Great Scott!" gasped Sam, after he had recovered from his amazement.
"Did you ever see such an auto-truck as that, and running at such
speed?"

"Certainly some truck," was Tom's comment. "That must have weighed
four or five tons. I wonder if it came over the Paxton River bridge?"

"If it did, it must have given the bridge an awful shaking up. That
bridge isn't any too strong. It shakes fearfully every time we go over
it. Better run slow, Tom, when we get there."

"I will." And then Tom put on speed once more and the automobile
forged ahead as before.

A short run up-hill brought them to the point where the road ran down
to the Paxton River. In the bright moonlight the boys could see the