"Well, you are coming on, aren't you?" he asked. "Maybe you'll
keep up now!" He shifted the gears, using a little more gasolene.
For a moment his car opened a wide gap between it and Tom's, but
the young inventor had only begun to race. Still louder purred
the motor, and in a few minutes Tom was running on even terms
with his competitor. The man looked annoyed, and tried, by the
skilful use of gasolene and sparking levers, to leave Tom behind.
But the electric held her own.
"I've got to go the limit I see," remarked the man at last,
glancing sideways at the other car. "I'll tell 'em you're
coming," he added, "though I must say your electric does better
than any of its kind I ever came across."
"I'm not done yet," was the comment of our hero. But the man
did not hear him, for he was yanking into place the lever that
enabled him to run on direct drive for fourth speed.
Forward shot his car, and, for perhaps a quarter of a mile it
led. The racers were almost at the end of the three-mile level
stretch of road, and if Tom was going to win the impromptu
contest it seemed high time he began.
"Can you catch him?" asked Ned anxiously.
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