CHAPTER IXWHEN THE LIMIT CAME OFF.The shouts of the startled crowd in front of Turner’s grocery had brought those within the store rushing out to learn the cause of alarm. The governor came with them, followed a second later by the young man who had been tossed by Libby’s bull. They beheld the motor car well under way, and the judge struggling frantically and ineffectually to restrain it.“Great guns!â€� groaned the governor, turning pale. “Wiggin’s started the demonstration on his own hook. He’ll smash a four-thousand-dollar car and his neck at the same time!â€�The young man with the bandaged head stiffened. If he felt weak or dizzy at that moment, he flung it off instantly. With a single bound he was at the foot of the store steps, against which leaned a bicycle, left there temporarily by some one. He grabbed the bicycle, uttering a ringing shout for everybody to get out of the way.Through the scattered crowd he dashed, leaping to the saddle and catching the pedals with his nimble feet. Bending over the handlebars, he started in pursuit of the automobile, which, by this time, was halfway down the hill, with the wailing siren in full blast.Continuing to jabber and shout, the crowd followed, stringing out in a straggling line. Boys and younger men were in the lead. Middle-aged, bewhiskered, bald-headed men came next. The rear guard was made up of the aged and decrepit; the very last one of all, bent with rheumatism, and hobbling with the aid of two canes, being Zebediah Titcomb, the sage of Greenbush.Never since its foundation had the sleepy town of Greenbush beheld such a spectacle. Never in its history had there been such tremendous excitement within its boundaries. The end of all things terrestrial could scarcely have created a greater hullabaloo in that torpid community.The young man on the bicycle was not able to overtake the runaway motor car before it reached the bridge, but he was not far behind it. When the automobile smashed through the railing and leaped into the river, he jumped from the bicycle and followed it without the slightest hesitation.He was an excellent swimmer, and, rising from the plunge, he saw the head of Nathan Wiggin bob to the surface within reach of his arm. Immediately he fastened a hand on the man’s collar.“Keep still! Stop thrashing,â€� he said, “and I’ll get you out.â€�The somewhat difficult task of rescuing Judge Wiggin from drowning was accomplished, while the panting throng that had reached the bridge looked on and cheered. Reaching shallow water, the young man assisted the judge to his feet, and both waded forth to dry land.Arriving on shore, the older man immediately sat down facing the river, beneath the sluggish surface of which Governor Bradley’s automobile lay immersed. After a few choking gulps, he began to speak in accents and words of the utmost self-contempt.“Nate Wiggin,â€� he said, addressing himself, “you’ve lived to be fifty-four year old, and arrived at the conclusion that there wasn’t anything that traveled on legs or wheels that you couldn’t handle. Which goes to show that when a man thinks he knows all there is to know about anything a shrinkage has set in about half an inch beneath the roots of his hair. A wise fool is about as safe to have round as a stick of dynamite bakin’ in the oven of a red-hot stove. If he don’t damage nobody else, he’s pretty likely to blow up and bust himself.â€�The governor and his secretary, followed by a few others, came hurrying to the spot. Seeing them approach, the judge got upon his feet, dripping tiny rivulets.“Governor,â€� he observed, “there’s no great loss without some small gain. You’ll save the price of a wash for that there automobile. Whatever damage or expense may accrue I ca’late I’ll have to sustain. I guess we can find a way to get her out.â€�“I’m thankful,â€� said Governor Bradley, “that you were not killed.â€�“I don’t see why that should choke you with joy. In your place I’d prob’ly be so blazin’ mad I’d start in to murder somebody.â€�His eyes streaming and his nose snuffling, Weeping Buzzell broke in: “Obadiah Cobb has come along with his hoss and wagon. He’s right there at the end of the bridge, and he’ll take ye home, jedge. You better git outer them wet clothes it you don’t want to ketch your everlarsting.â€�“I’m no wetter’n this young feller who yanked me outer the drink,â€� said the judge. “He’s got to come along to the house with me and get fixed up. And you, too, governor, and t’other gentleman—you come; I insist on it. You’re going to stop with me, the whole caboodle of ye, to supper. Hosspitality deferred may be hosspitality soured, but I’ll guarantee to do my best to sweeten it up on this occasion.â€�By this time it seemed that by far the greater portion of the inhabitants of the town were packed upon the bridge or jamming the roadway. And when Obadiah Cobb took the governor, the judge, and the other two men into his double seater and started back up the hill with them, the crowd laughed and cheered again.“Governor,â€� said Judge Wiggin, “I dunno whether that’s meant for you or for the young man who hauled me out of the stream, but either way it’s proper well deserved. If you hadn’t been dead game, you’d have kicked like a steer over what’s happened, and if he wasn’t good grit to the bone he’d never have gone into the river arter me. Which is admittin’ I made a mistake in sizing him up when I found my darter making a touse over him.â€�Among the few villagers who remained unaware of the recent lively events were Judge Wiggin’s sister and his daughter. Of course they were thrown into a great flutter. Miss Sally said: “My stars!â€� What Miss Bessie said was whispered into the ear of the water-soaked but smiling young man, who gave her a look and a sly squeeze of the hand that brought a rosy flush to her cheeks.Dry clothes were found; also “a little nip of something to parry off chills.â€� Warming up, the participants in the adventure joked and laughed, even though the judge seemed to have something on his mind that was giving him some serious thought. What this was appeared later after they had partaken of a genuine old-fashioned New England supper, topped off with doughnuts and hot apple pie and steaming, fragrant coffee.Turning his eyes to the governor, who sat at the right of Miss Sally, Nathan Wiggin said: “Governor, putting aside the question of damages I owe on account of what happened to your automobile, ca’late it’s up to me to express my appreciation of whut you done to induce Ephraim Glover to take back and give me a clear field. With a clear start, I reckon I can carry this deestrict, and help you to carry the county. Anyhow, I’m going to lay myself out to do it.â€�“That sounds good to me,â€� laughed the governor.“Furthermore,â€� pursued the host, “I’ve decided to abolish the trapping of automobile drivers in this here town. Mebbe,â€� he admitted, “this may appear a leetle dite selfish on my part as, havin’ got my dander up by the pranks played on me by that there gas go-cart of yourn, governor, I’m contemplating buying one myself and running the consarned cantraption until I git it tamed. If there was traps hereabouts, mebbe I’d git took up and have to fine myself for busting the speed limit. Therefore, henceforth there ain’t going to be no speed limit in Greenbush.â€�Beneath the edge of the table, old Shep, attempting to lick Bessie’s hand with his tongue, licked also the hand of the young man who sat beside her. And before sitting down, the young people had found an opportunity, quite unobserved, to exchange a few words in private. Somehow neither of them had evinced any great desire for food, but while George was still unnaturally pale, the roses continued to bloom in Bessie’s cheeks.Now George spoke up boldly: “As long as you have abolished the speed limit, Judge Wiggin, I am going to improve the occasion to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage. Doubtless it will seem rather hasty to you, but everything has moved with a rush this afternoon. I have put the question to Bessie, and won her consent.â€�The governor stared. Miss Nancy nearly fainted. Bessie Wiggin trembled visibly. Nathan P. Wiggin gazed hard at the young man for about thirty seconds, and then scratched his chin, a queer pucker screwing up his face.“Wull, I declare!â€� said the judge at last. “That is going some! Never quite reckoned on my darter hookin’ up with a shuffer, but, having saved me from drownding, you’ve took me at a disadvantage. If Bessie has said yes, and you kin furnish the proper creedenshuls I’ll have to take your proposition under consideration, I guess.â€�The governor looked Bessie Wiggin over appraisingly, and decided that he had made no mistake in thinking her an unusually pretty and charming young lady.“It is sudden,â€� he said, laughing softly, “and it would not have happened if George had not offered to drive for me to-day, my regular chauffeur being ill. In the way of credentials, judge, let me state that he is my son.â€�The judge’s sister sat bolt upright in a jiffy. The judge coughed behind his hand, the pucker crinkling the corners of his eyes.“Them creedenshuls, governor,â€� he stated, “are wholly satisfactory to me.â€� His whole body seemed to shake oddly. “I’m afraid I’m going to have a chill, after all,â€� he added. “I think the governor and me had better take a little walk in the moonlight.â€�THE END
The shouts of the startled crowd in front of Turner’s grocery had brought those within the store rushing out to learn the cause of alarm. The governor came with them, followed a second later by the young man who had been tossed by Libby’s bull. They beheld the motor car well under way, and the judge struggling frantically and ineffectually to restrain it.
“Great guns!� groaned the governor, turning pale. “Wiggin’s started the demonstration on his own hook. He’ll smash a four-thousand-dollar car and his neck at the same time!�
The young man with the bandaged head stiffened. If he felt weak or dizzy at that moment, he flung it off instantly. With a single bound he was at the foot of the store steps, against which leaned a bicycle, left there temporarily by some one. He grabbed the bicycle, uttering a ringing shout for everybody to get out of the way.
Through the scattered crowd he dashed, leaping to the saddle and catching the pedals with his nimble feet. Bending over the handlebars, he started in pursuit of the automobile, which, by this time, was halfway down the hill, with the wailing siren in full blast.
Continuing to jabber and shout, the crowd followed, stringing out in a straggling line. Boys and younger men were in the lead. Middle-aged, bewhiskered, bald-headed men came next. The rear guard was made up of the aged and decrepit; the very last one of all, bent with rheumatism, and hobbling with the aid of two canes, being Zebediah Titcomb, the sage of Greenbush.
Never since its foundation had the sleepy town of Greenbush beheld such a spectacle. Never in its history had there been such tremendous excitement within its boundaries. The end of all things terrestrial could scarcely have created a greater hullabaloo in that torpid community.
The young man on the bicycle was not able to overtake the runaway motor car before it reached the bridge, but he was not far behind it. When the automobile smashed through the railing and leaped into the river, he jumped from the bicycle and followed it without the slightest hesitation.
He was an excellent swimmer, and, rising from the plunge, he saw the head of Nathan Wiggin bob to the surface within reach of his arm. Immediately he fastened a hand on the man’s collar.
“Keep still! Stop thrashing,� he said, “and I’ll get you out.�
The somewhat difficult task of rescuing Judge Wiggin from drowning was accomplished, while the panting throng that had reached the bridge looked on and cheered. Reaching shallow water, the young man assisted the judge to his feet, and both waded forth to dry land.
Arriving on shore, the older man immediately sat down facing the river, beneath the sluggish surface of which Governor Bradley’s automobile lay immersed. After a few choking gulps, he began to speak in accents and words of the utmost self-contempt.
“Nate Wiggin,� he said, addressing himself, “you’ve lived to be fifty-four year old, and arrived at the conclusion that there wasn’t anything that traveled on legs or wheels that you couldn’t handle. Which goes to show that when a man thinks he knows all there is to know about anything a shrinkage has set in about half an inch beneath the roots of his hair. A wise fool is about as safe to have round as a stick of dynamite bakin’ in the oven of a red-hot stove. If he don’t damage nobody else, he’s pretty likely to blow up and bust himself.�
The governor and his secretary, followed by a few others, came hurrying to the spot. Seeing them approach, the judge got upon his feet, dripping tiny rivulets.
“Governor,� he observed, “there’s no great loss without some small gain. You’ll save the price of a wash for that there automobile. Whatever damage or expense may accrue I ca’late I’ll have to sustain. I guess we can find a way to get her out.�
“I’m thankful,� said Governor Bradley, “that you were not killed.�
“I don’t see why that should choke you with joy. In your place I’d prob’ly be so blazin’ mad I’d start in to murder somebody.�
His eyes streaming and his nose snuffling, Weeping Buzzell broke in: “Obadiah Cobb has come along with his hoss and wagon. He’s right there at the end of the bridge, and he’ll take ye home, jedge. You better git outer them wet clothes it you don’t want to ketch your everlarsting.�
“I’m no wetter’n this young feller who yanked me outer the drink,â€� said the judge. “He’s got to come along to the house with me and get fixed up. And you, too, governor, and t’other gentleman—you come; I insist on it. You’re going to stop with me, the whole caboodle of ye, to supper. Hosspitality deferred may be hosspitality soured, but I’ll guarantee to do my best to sweeten it up on this occasion.â€�
By this time it seemed that by far the greater portion of the inhabitants of the town were packed upon the bridge or jamming the roadway. And when Obadiah Cobb took the governor, the judge, and the other two men into his double seater and started back up the hill with them, the crowd laughed and cheered again.
“Governor,� said Judge Wiggin, “I dunno whether that’s meant for you or for the young man who hauled me out of the stream, but either way it’s proper well deserved. If you hadn’t been dead game, you’d have kicked like a steer over what’s happened, and if he wasn’t good grit to the bone he’d never have gone into the river arter me. Which is admittin’ I made a mistake in sizing him up when I found my darter making a touse over him.�
Among the few villagers who remained unaware of the recent lively events were Judge Wiggin’s sister and his daughter. Of course they were thrown into a great flutter. Miss Sally said: “My stars!� What Miss Bessie said was whispered into the ear of the water-soaked but smiling young man, who gave her a look and a sly squeeze of the hand that brought a rosy flush to her cheeks.
Dry clothes were found; also “a little nip of something to parry off chills.� Warming up, the participants in the adventure joked and laughed, even though the judge seemed to have something on his mind that was giving him some serious thought. What this was appeared later after they had partaken of a genuine old-fashioned New England supper, topped off with doughnuts and hot apple pie and steaming, fragrant coffee.
Turning his eyes to the governor, who sat at the right of Miss Sally, Nathan Wiggin said: “Governor, putting aside the question of damages I owe on account of what happened to your automobile, ca’late it’s up to me to express my appreciation of whut you done to induce Ephraim Glover to take back and give me a clear field. With a clear start, I reckon I can carry this deestrict, and help you to carry the county. Anyhow, I’m going to lay myself out to do it.�
“That sounds good to me,� laughed the governor.
“Furthermore,� pursued the host, “I’ve decided to abolish the trapping of automobile drivers in this here town. Mebbe,� he admitted, “this may appear a leetle dite selfish on my part as, havin’ got my dander up by the pranks played on me by that there gas go-cart of yourn, governor, I’m contemplating buying one myself and running the consarned cantraption until I git it tamed. If there was traps hereabouts, mebbe I’d git took up and have to fine myself for busting the speed limit. Therefore, henceforth there ain’t going to be no speed limit in Greenbush.�
Beneath the edge of the table, old Shep, attempting to lick Bessie’s hand with his tongue, licked also the hand of the young man who sat beside her. And before sitting down, the young people had found an opportunity, quite unobserved, to exchange a few words in private. Somehow neither of them had evinced any great desire for food, but while George was still unnaturally pale, the roses continued to bloom in Bessie’s cheeks.
Now George spoke up boldly: “As long as you have abolished the speed limit, Judge Wiggin, I am going to improve the occasion to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage. Doubtless it will seem rather hasty to you, but everything has moved with a rush this afternoon. I have put the question to Bessie, and won her consent.�
The governor stared. Miss Nancy nearly fainted. Bessie Wiggin trembled visibly. Nathan P. Wiggin gazed hard at the young man for about thirty seconds, and then scratched his chin, a queer pucker screwing up his face.
“Wull, I declare!� said the judge at last. “That is going some! Never quite reckoned on my darter hookin’ up with a shuffer, but, having saved me from drownding, you’ve took me at a disadvantage. If Bessie has said yes, and you kin furnish the proper creedenshuls I’ll have to take your proposition under consideration, I guess.�
The governor looked Bessie Wiggin over appraisingly, and decided that he had made no mistake in thinking her an unusually pretty and charming young lady.
“It is sudden,� he said, laughing softly, “and it would not have happened if George had not offered to drive for me to-day, my regular chauffeur being ill. In the way of credentials, judge, let me state that he is my son.�
The judge’s sister sat bolt upright in a jiffy. The judge coughed behind his hand, the pucker crinkling the corners of his eyes.
“Them creedenshuls, governor,� he stated, “are wholly satisfactory to me.� His whole body seemed to shake oddly. “I’m afraid I’m going to have a chill, after all,� he added. “I think the governor and me had better take a little walk in the moonlight.�
THE END
Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the May 1, 1915 issue of theTop-Notchmagazine published by Street & Smith Company.
Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the May 1, 1915 issue of theTop-Notchmagazine published by Street & Smith Company.