“I’ll do my best to tell him privately, if you say so,” declared Giraffe.
“At the same time find out what our bill is and we’ll pay in advance,” said Thad.
“What’s the idea in doing that?” Bumpus wanted to know.
“Just to let him understand we haven’t any intention of slipping off, and beating him out of an account,” explained the other. “And, Giraffe, another thing you can do; that is, if you are able to tackle it.”
“Tell me,” said the other simply, just as a Missourian might say, “Show me!”
“Give him to understand that we’re armed, and would defend our property to the last gasp,” was the astonishing declaration Thad made, though he could be heard chuckling at the same time, as though himself more or less amused.
“But we’re not, Thad, you know; we haven’t got more than pocket knives along with us this trip. Even those we used aboard the boat we packed up with the other junk, to be sent across to America when we wrote to that boatyard man.”
It was Bumpus who made this protest; the others understood that Thad must have some sort of little scheme of his own which he intended to make use of; so they only waited to hear its nature.
“We’ll find some of the tools to handle,” he told them, “and in the half dark even a monkey wrench, if you know how, can be made to look like a revolver, especially if you click! click! when aiming the same!”
“That’s right,” was the comment of Giraffe; “for I’ve seen the game worked myself, and to tell the truth had my knees knocking together as if I had the ague till the chap who was giving me the grand scare had to laugh outright, and broke the game up.”
“Well, we might as well go back and sit on that porch till we feel sleepy. Then Giraffe can tackle the landlord and have it out with him.”
Thad’s suggestion appeared to strike them all favorably, and it was not long afterward when they settled down to making themselves as comfortable as possible. There was more or less conversation, though gaps came between, for the boys found themselves rather tired. They had not slept as well during the last night or two as they might, owing to numerous things, worries of the mind more than of the body.
“I’m wondering what that queer far-off throbbing sound can be?” Giraffe happened to mention all at once; “I’ve been hearing it for some time, and it comes as regular as a clock, once in so many minutes.”
“And I’ve been listening to the same,” admitted Thad.
“Then perhaps you can give us an idea what causes it?” asked Bumpus, after he too had caught the odd sound, the like of which they could not remember ever having heard before.
“I believe it’s the discharge of a monster siege gun!” was Thad’s startling declaration, which of course provoked a series of outcries.
“Do you mean away over at Liége, where we’ve been told the Germans are trying to batter down the conical-top steel forts by dropping monster shells on them from points miles away?” Allan asked in a hushed voice, as though thrilled by the thought.
Thad went on to say that he could not think of any other reason for the strange sounds. He also told them to notice that some of the men they had seen inside the inn had come out, and seemed to be listening to the sounds as if they had a sinister meaning to them.
It was indeed a strange experience for the scouts. They had been in contact with a great many remarkable happenings in the past few years, especially since the troop had been organized at Cranford; but never had they expected to be sitting and listening to the deep-throated throb of giant guns engaged in a terrible battle of opposing armies.
Although they tried to picture the stirring scene, of course it was utterly beyond their capacity; for no one who has not looked on a battle can imagine what it is like.
Giraffe even had the nerve to express a wish that some time or other he might be privileged to see what a modern engagement was like; but of course it was only a thoughtless boyish desire. Before he was through with this journey over the war trails of Belgium possibly he would regret having ever made such a remark; for there might be some things come into his experience that he would be glad to forget.
Long they sat there in the warm night air, listening to the sounds that came, now faintly, and anon in a louder key, according to the character of the breeze that wafted them to their ears.
Then Thad, seeing that Bumpus had allowed his head to fall forward on his chest, told Giraffe he had better seek the landlord and sound him on the scheme of their sleeping in the hay-mow within the barn.
“I’ve been thinking it all over,” said Giraffe, “and I’ve got it arranged. You know our landlord isn’t much on the American lingo, and I expect to have some little trouble making him understand; but I’m getting my hand in at this interpreter business, and I’ll make it or bust the boiler trying.”
“Don’t forget,” cautioned the patrol leader, “to give him to understand that we love the fresh air, and really prefer to sleep in the open, being scouts. Yes, and you can hint at the same time that it would be a serious thing for any rascals if they tried to steal our car.”
“Do you suspect the landlord knows anything about the raid, if there is going to be one?” asked Giraffe.
“Perhaps he doesn’t,” Thad told him, “but there’s no harm giving him that hint; he may manage to push it along and save us some excitement.”
“Huh! that doesn’t bother me any,” remarked the other disdainfully; “you know I live on excitement. But I’ll try and do all you say, Thad.”
He was gone some time, almost twenty minutes, and when he once more appeared on the porch it was with his arms full of blankets. Bumpus was sound asleep in his chair and breathing as peacefully as though safe at home in his own bed.
“Gee! but I’m weak,” said Giraffe, sinking down in a seat, the blankets being dropped to the floor. “Oh! it isn’t because of the heft of those coverings, you know, but the way I had to work to get that old innkeeper to understand. When he did finally get it through his head he was as nice as pie about it—insisted on getting four clean blankets for us, and hoped we’d have a pleasant night.”
“Then that part is settled,” remarked Hugh. “He took the money, of course?”
“Sure thing, Thad. Did you ever hear of one of his kind shoving any cold cash aside when it was offered to him?”
“Did he act as if he felt disappointed at our wanting to stand guard over our old car?” asked Allan.
“Why, he tried to tell me that people were very honest around this place, and never even fasten their doors. Fact is, you can’t find a lock in the inn, only a hook to keep the doors from flying open. But I must say I couldn’t see any sign of his being upset by our action.”
“Then I reckon he doesn’t know the plan of those men, if they do really intend to try and run the car off,” Thad concluded.
Giraffe yawned.
“I tell you, I’m as sleepy as they make ’em,” he remarked. “Suppose we trek over to the barn and get busy. Me for the hay.”
“There’s Bumpus here to be looked after,” suggested Allan.
“He looks so happy it’s a pity to wake him up,” said Thad; “but of course we couldn’t think of leaving him here on the porch all night.”
He shook Bumpus gently as he said this. The fat boy gave a grunt, but beyond this there was no sign of life about him.
“Wake up, Bumpus!” said Thad, giving him a little rougher treatment.
“Oh! leave me alone, can’t you?” grumbled the other; “’tain’t mornin’ yet. When the coffee’s ready I’ll climb out, I tell you. Leave me be!”
Bumpus evidently imagined that he was in camp somewhere, with some of his chums bent on routing him out at an unearthly early hour. Thad this time gave him so sturdy a shake that Bumpus began to sit up and rub his eyes.
“Hey! what’s all this, anyway? Where am I at? I was dreaming that——” he commenced, when the impatient Giraffe interrupted him.
“Never mind what you were dreaming, Bumpus; we’re going out to the barn to sleep, and, unless you want to be left alone here on the inn porch the rest of the night, hump yourself and trot along with us. I’ve got a blanket here for you, see?”
Of course Bumpus stirred himself at that. He quickly realized he was indeed far away from the dearly beloved camp up on Silver Fox Island in Omega Lake, near his home town of Cranford.
Once out at the so-called barn they began their simple preparations for sleeping in the hay. The moon had arisen and flooded the world with light on that August night. Everything looked so peaceful and lovely that Thad found it hard to believe tens of thousands of human beings were engaged in a terrible and sanguinary battle only a comparatively few miles away from that spot.
Still, whenever he listened carefully, and the night wind happened to be just right, it was easy for him to hear that uneasy grumbling which he knew must come from the fighting line, where the Germans were battering the steel fortresses at Liége day and night.
With the supply of petrol down to the last dregs, and a section of the necessary working parts of the engine secreted, it would seem as though thieves might have some trouble in carrying the car off, even if they came to the barn. But Thad did not mean to take any chances.
When each of them had been apportioned his bed in the hay, within touch of one another, Thad gave a few last instructions.
It was understood that no one was to do anything to betray their presence until Thad uttered the signal. Even Bumpus had it sternly impressed on his mind that if he felt a hand shaking him he was to simply hold his breath and lie quiet, waiting for the next move.
Thad’s little electric torch came in very handy in selecting their sleeping quarters, though he did not use it more than was necessary.
Finally all settled down to get what sleep they could. Bumpus had been forced to lie on his side so that he might not make any of those queer snorting sounds which so often amused his fellow-campers, and frequently excited their ire in the bargain.
Thad, being a light sleeper, expected to be aroused should any one open the door. The sudden influx of moonlight was calculated to accomplish this, but he did not depend on that alone. Having found a small, empty tin can, he fixed it so there would be something doing in case the door moved, enough noise made to arouse him, whereupon he could touch each of the others.
Some time must have passed before Thad was awakened by this same small clatter. He felt Allan move on one side of him, showing that the second leader of the Silver Fox Patrol was on the alert.
“Give Giraffe a shake, Allan!” he whispered in the other’s ear.
“It’s all right, for he kicked me just then!” replied the other, in the same cautious tone.
It only remained to arouse Bumpus. Thad would have let the fat scout sleep right along, only he was afraid his heavy breathing might awaken suspicion, and lead to an investigation before they were ready to spring their surprise.
For once Bumpus proved to be on his guard when Thad bending over shook him, and at the same time whispered in his ear:
“Wake up, Bumpus, and keep as still as a mouse!”
They lay there, hardly daring to breathe, for all of them could tell that some one was opening the wide doors of the barn, since the moonlight began to flood the interior. It was quite thrilling for the boys to be lying there straining their eyes so as to see to advantage.
Dark figures flitted in through the opening. They could hear low-muttered words, and might have understood what the intruders were saying only that none of the scouts happened to be up in the Flemish language, which was like so much Greek to them.
But from the fact that the prowlers immediately gathered around the car and seemed to be once more examining the same, it was easy to understand their motives at any rate.
Thad waited to make sure that their night visit might not have been caused by some other motive than a desire to steal the property of himself and chums. When after considerable fussing around he saw that the men were actually starting to push the car outside, he knew it was folly to hold back any longer.
So Thad gave the signal. The other three had doubtless been waiting, like hounds held in the leash, for the call to arms. Instantly Allan and Giraffe sprang erect, while poor, clumsy Bumpus, trying to be exceptionally swift, got his feet entangled and actually rolled out into full view.
Thad instantly turned his torch upon the astounded schemers. The intensity of that white glow must have done much to demoralize them. If anything more were needed, it was supplied when the three figures extended their right hands and seemed to be covering the intruders with what looked like dangerous pistols.
“Get out of this, you rascals, or we’ll open fire, and shoot you down like dogs!” Thad shouted, and the whole three of them waved their weapons in a most suggestive manner that could not well be mistaken.
It is of course doubtful whether those fellows understood a single word of that dreadful threat. They did know, however, that they were caught nicely in the act of stealing other people’s property, and that safety could only be secured by a hasty departure.
It was surprising the way in which they vanished through the open doors. Even the big man mentioned by Giraffe as being equal to three of Bumpus seemed to slip away as if on wings of fear. So the four scouts were left to shake hands with each other over their great victory.
“It was almost too easy,” said Giraffe, who seemed disappointed because he had not been able to get in a single blow.
Still Thad said they should be satisfied with having chased the thieves off, and in this fashion saved their property. He fastened the doors again, set his tin-can trap, and told the others he was going to finish his sleep out, as he did not fear any further annoyance.
In fact, the balance of that night passed without anything happening to arouse the four chums. Morning found them ready for breakfast, and congratulating each other on the success of their little game.
“We’d be out a car, such as it is, this morning,” asserted Allan, “if we hadn’t camped out here.”
“Don’t suppose we’ll ever know just what they meant to do with her,” suggested Bumpus; “and we don’t care much, either. When a fellow’s been robbed it doesn’t matter to him what becomes of the stuff. But seems to me I smell cooking going on.”
That was enough to excite Bumpus, and Giraffe as well. They were soon enjoying a hearty breakfast, and as the landlord asked no questions they did not think it worth while to tell him about the night alarm.
The next problem was to secure a supply of petrol. While there was no scarcity of the fluid as yet, still every one who owned any seemed to suspect that the time was near at hand when it would become very valuable, especially if German raiders overran this part of Belgium, and commandeered every gallon they could discover.
Upon asking the landlord he put them on the track, and in the end they were able to purchase just five gallons, at about three times the usual price. Still this would enable them to make a start, and there was always hope that they could pick up a further supply as they went along, even if it had to be in driblets, a gallon here and another there, to eke out.
Leaving the roadside inn, the boys were feeling in fairly high spirits, especially Giraffe, who declared that with such luck on their side they were bound to get to Antwerp some way or other, sooner or later.
“I tell you we’re just bound to do it,” he said, with spirit, as they moved along the road, “and if all other channels are blocked, what’s to hinder us backing up again and crossing the border into Holland? We could make our way to Rotterdam, and there take a small boat through the inside passages to the Schelde River, so as to get to Antwerp all right. So keep that in your mind, Bumpus—when the Silver Fox boys settle on doing a thing it has to come, that’s all!”
“The thing that’s bothering me,” said Bumpus, a little later on, “is this. If the military in Belgium here are so hard up for cars that they’d even think to take such a tough-looking machine as this, how are we ever going to keep hold of the same, somebody tell me?”
“We’ll do the best we know how,” Thad informed him. “For one thing, every time we chance to run across any Belgian soldiers I intend to coax the engine to puff and groan the worst you ever heard. It’ll help discourage envy on their part. We’ll act as though it’s stalled every twenty feet, and that we’re having a dickens of a time with it.”
That idea amused Giraffe, who laughed heartily.
“It certainly does take you to get up some of the smartest games going, Thad,” he ventured; “and I guess now that’d be the best dodge to save our palatial car from being commandeered by the army. When they see what a cantankerous mule it is, they’ll ask to be excused from trying to bother with such a kicker.”
Perhaps the car understood what they were discussing. At any rate, it proved to be most accommodating, and tried to give them as good an excuse for calling it hard names as it could. At the very next rise it refused to work its passage and only for Thad’s expertness in backing into a gully they might have had a wild return ride down the grade, with a fair chance for an upset.
“Hey! look at that, will you?” puffed Bumpus, after half tumbling from the car, when the others jumped nimbly out; “now weareup against it good and hard. If the poor old tramp refuses to make the climb, however are we to get over the rise?”
“Take off your coat, Bumpus,” Thad told him.
“Oh! do we have to reallypush?” asked the fat scout, looking at the balance of the hill, and scratching his head in a manner that told how little he enjoyed the prospect ahead.
“It’s the only way,” Giraffe explained, “unless we want to leave the car here, and continue our long journey afoot!”
That caused Bumpus to get out of his coat hastily.
“Anything but that!” he declared. “And when you get me started at a thing I guess I can do my share, all right.”
He proved as good as his word, because Bumpus was strong, even if he seldom cared to exert himself, on account of indolence. When four husky, well-grown boys get busy, with their shoulders against a vehicle that has balked on a rise, they are able to accomplish a good deal.
There were several things in their favor. In the first place, the car was far from being a very heavy one; then the hill did not have a steep grade; and they were half way up when the engine refused to do its duty; besides, they could rest several times by allowing the car to back into the gully again.
Bumpus did his full share of the work, though with many a grunt. In the end they reached the top and then got aboard, after Thad had made sure the engine would do its duty again.
“Now for a good, long coast down-grade,” said Bumpus, as though that pleasure would pay up in part for his recent labor; as he expressed it himself, “It helped take the bitter taste out of a fellow’s mouth, anyhow.”
“What were you limping about the last part of the way, Bumpus?” asked Allan, as they continued their journey, after reaching level ground again.
“Guess I must have worked too hard,” explained the other, with a grin, “because it seemed just like I’d strained my muscles some way. Feels some sore at that, and it’s lucky I don’t have to do any walking about now.”
“Thad, what would you call that thing away off yonder? Sometimes it disappears in among the fleecy clouds, and then comes out again. From here it makes me think of one of those big buzzards we used to watch soaring ever so high up, while we were down in Louisiana.”
Thad gave a steady look.
“It’s an aeroplane!” he told them positively.
Allan had apparently come to the same conclusion himself, for he instantly echoed the assertion of the patrol leader.
“No hawk about that, or buzzard either, if they have such things over here in Belgium,” he said. “See, there’s another of the same kind further on. They must be German Taube machines, and are being used to spy on the positions of the Belgian forces down below.”
All of them looked and wondered, as was quite natural, for although they had of course seen aeroplanes maneuver many times at county fairs and other places, this was their first experience at watching the evolutions of war machines doing scout duty.
“You see how valuable they are going to be in this war,” Thad remarked. “From a safe position thousands of feet above, the aviator can see every movement of troops, note the coming of reinforcements, take stock of the position of every battery of big guns, and by a code of signals inform his side just how to direct their fire in order to do the most execution.”
“Whew! it’s wonderful when you come to think of it,” Giraffe exclaimed, with a whistle to indicate the state of his feelings; “and I can see how an up-to-date war with such a country as Germany is bound to give the world heaps of surprises and thrills.”
“Just stop and consider,” said Allan, still gazing at the far-away soaring objects among the light clouds, “what those chaps are seeing as they sail around up there. It must be a wonderful spectacle, and I’d give a lot to be up there half an hour or so.”
“But it must be dangerous work at that, I’d think,” observed Bumpus.
“All aeroplane work is,” admitted Giraffe, “and if you once started to take a drop it’d be the end. You’d never know what had happened; but, say, I’d pity the poor fellow underneath whenyoulanded, Bumpus!”
“I didn’t mean that, Giraffe,” expostulated the other; “don’t you suppose now if those are German airships the Belgians must be cracking away at them with their guns and trying to bring them down?”
“They’d be silly not to, Bumpus,” replied Giraffe, “and if we only had a glass along the chances are you’d be able to see some of the bombs or shrapnel exploding up there. But it’s hard to hit such a moving target, and besides I reckon the pilots fly high enough to be well out of range.”
Since leaving the roadside inn they had covered quite a few miles, with nothing out of the way happening, except that little trouble on the slope of the hill. Thad had studied the little chart he carried with him, and tried to lay out a route which he hoped would carry them beyond the danger line.
He understood that the invaders must be stretching out toward the west so as to control that section of country. There was a chance that at any time the boys might meet with a raiding band of rough-riders connected with the German army; but he hoped this would not happen, for it was likely to spoil all their plans and set them back.
“Why, this is getting too sleepy for anything,” Giraffe was complaining finally. “We don’t even have any housewife rush out and threaten us for running over her dog, or killing a poor old hen. Why, even the ducks can waddle out of reach of our slow-poke car. It makes me feel like I’m going to a funeral.”
“You’re the same old Giraffe,” declared Bumpus, chuckling, “always finding fault. Now the only thing that makes me sad is because I never yet had a chance to show what I know about driving a car. I took three lessons last spring, and later on Thad might let me spell him some.”
“I’ll get out first, if ever you do!” vowed Giraffe; “I don’t care to be splashed up against a wall, or hoisted twenty feet up in the branches of a tree, to hang there with my head down. And I don’t think Thad’s reckless enough to take chances with such a green driver. Bad enough as it is, with a wobbly car.”
Bumpus did not answer, but there was an aggrieved look on his round face, which would indicate he did not agree with Giraffe at all, and still considered that he might be trusted.
The sun, being well up, was beginning to prove pretty warm, so that it was not surprising to hear Giraffe express a desire for a cool drink.
“Since such things as road-houses seem to be as scarce as hens’ teeth along here, and you can’t expect to get any soda or sarsaparilla, suppose we keep an eye out for a spring, and call a halt to water our dusty throats?”
Everybody seemed willing, and Bumpus even went to the trouble to produce an old well-battered tin cup he had picked up somewhere, as he remarked:
“And if you do run across a spring, Giraffe, please fetch me that full of nice cold water, will you? My leg still pains me, and I’d better not get out. I hate to give any one trouble, but it’s a case of necessity. Get your fill first, and fetch mine when you come back to the car. You were always a good friend of mine, Giraffe.”
“No trouble at all,” the other told him; “but first catch your rabbit before you start cooking the same. We have yet to find the spring. Here, stop making such faces, Bumpus; I know your throat is full of dust, but you can’t hurry things that way, for even two swallows don’t make a spring!”
Bumpus pretended to feel faint after hearing that, but recovered almost magically upon hearing Thad say he believed he saw what they were looking for up ahead.
“These Belgian country people are always thinking of others,” he said, “and they mark a spring near the road with a white stone so passers-by can know it.”
“Yes,” added Allan, “and ten chances to one we’ll find it as neat as wax, with some sort of a clean mug to drink out of.”
“I hope this isn’t going to turn out a false clue, that’s all,” remarked Giraffe, “because I’ve gone and got my mouth watering for a drink, and the disappointment might prove fatal to me.”
Two minutes afterwards they halted.
“Yes, it is a spring, I do believe!” said Giraffe, making one of his flying leaps out of the car.
“Here, you’re forgetting all about my cup!” screeched Bumpus, and of course the impatient one had to come back in order to keep his promise.
The spring was at some little distance from the road, it being necessary to negotiate several fences before reaching the white stone marking the spot where the ice-cold water gurgled forth.
“You were wise not to try the venture, if your leg pains you, Bumpus!” Allan called back; and the one left behind in the old car doubtless agreed with him there.
Giraffe was swallowing his second cup when the others arrived on the scene. He looked as though he might be enjoying himself hugely.
“I’m on the water-wagon now!” he warbled, making way for them, and pointing to a stone mug that lay close by for the use of thirsty travelers.
It was water that could hardly be excelled anywhere, and Allan, filling the mug, insisted on Thad drinking the contents. After that he dipped in for himself, while Giraffe came along for his third helping.
“One good turn deserves another!” he chuckled; “and it seems as if I never could get enough of this splendid stuff. I mustn’t forget to fetch poor old Bumpus his share, and if he wants more I’ll have to trot back here and get—— Hey! what’s that mean, Thad? The car’s running away with Bumpus, as sure as you’re born!”
The trio by the spring stared for a few seconds as though they thought they must be dreaming, for it seemed utterly impossible that such a thing should come to pass. And yet there was the car hurrying along the road, with the fat scout clutching the steering wheel, and looking half scared to death as he tried to keep from running into the gullies that lay to the right and to the left!
There was no mystery attached to it all, and Thad understood the whole occurrence as soon as he saw the car moving down the road with Bumpus in it. As usually happens, meddling was meeting with its customary reward.
Bumpus, as they very well knew, had long been desirous of learning how to run a motor car. Of course his father, being at the head of the Cranford bank, owned a big car, and had a chauffeur to run it; but he had issued positive orders that under no conditions was the boy to be allowed to ever handle the steering wheel. He knew Bumpus, and his capacity for doing the wrong thing, and meant to take no chances of having a smash-up.
Boys are human. What is denied them they most of all yearn to possess. Perhaps had Bumpus never been restrained from trying to run a car, his first little accident would have ended his vaulting ambition. As it was, this desire fed on the fact that it was a forbidden luxury for him.
When, therefore, Thad and the other two scouts were making their way toward the spring, with the intention of satisfying their thirst, he found himself tempted to clamber awkwardly over into the front seat, so as to sit there, and grasping the steering wheel try to imagine himself a bold chauffeur.
The engine was throbbing in restraint, and the trembling motion of the car gave Bumpus an additional opportunity to believe himself IT.
How he ever came to do it no one ever knew. Bumpus himself was so startled when he felt the car give a sudden leap forward that his wits almost left him. He always stoutly maintained that, so far as he could remember, he had done nothing at all to influence the start, but of course this was a mistake, for cars do not run away without some help.
Bumpus still gripped that wheel in a frenzied clutch. He stared hard at the road ahead, which to his excited fancy seemed to consist of a zigzag course as crooked as any wriggling snake he had ever watched.
At one second it seemed as though he were headed for the gully on the right, and no sooner had he wildly given the wheel a turn than the car, in sheer ugliness, Bumpus thought, started for the other side of the road.
The ditch there did not look a bit more tempting to the greenhorn chauffeur, and so he would strive to avoid being overturned by a contrary whirl of the wheel.
There he was going along at a rapid pace, with the crazy car making the most eccentric dives and plunges imaginable.
“After him!” shouted Thad.
He feared for the car, but most of all he felt great concern for Bumpus himself. With all his faults, the fat boy was a general favorite among his comrades of the Cranford Troop. In fact, everybody liked him on account of his sunny nature, his happy-go-lucky disposition, and his genial, child-like and bland smile.
Hardly had Thad given this shout than all of them were on the go. They did not attempt to return to the road over the same course taken in reaching the wayside spring, but started along a diagonal line. This was to overcome the lead which the runaway car had already obtained.
Thad shouted out directions which if heard and understood by Bumpus would have allowed him to bring the car to a sudden stop. Perhaps in his excitement the boy who clutched the steering wheel could not make head or tail of what Thad was calling. Then again it may have been the rattle of the cranky old car prevented him from catching the tenor of the directions.
In fact, as Bumpus afterwards frankly confessed, it would have made little difference whether he heard and understood the order or not. He only had two hands, and they were both needed every second of the time to keep that wheel moving, and thus prevent an accident.
The three scouts found many obstacles in their way from the spring to the road. They climbed fences with a surprising agility, and mounted a wall as though they were hounds coursing after a hare.
The long-legged Giraffe proved himself to be a trifle better than either of the others at this sort of thing, and consequently he came upon the road first. When Thad and Allan arrived he was some little distance along, running like a deer, and utterly regardless of the clouds of dust created by the eccentric motions of the reckless runaway car.
Thad was used to judging distances, and after making a rapid mental calculation he decided that, barring some accident, Giraffe was sure to overtake the car before many minutes had passed.
He only hoped they would come to no abrupt bend in the road, where the inexperienced chauffeur would lose what little command he now possessed over his refractory vehicle.
Of course, Thad did not attempt to voice his opinion. He needed every atom of breath he could get in order to keep up that burst of speed; and, besides, in that choking dust it would have been folly to have opened his mouth.
The car was doing as well as at any time since it came into their possession. Perhaps it meant to show them that even a car may have feelings, and resent constant slurs. Only for that zigzag motion, which consumed more or less time, Giraffe might have found it a much more difficult thing to catch up with the runaway.
More than once it seemed to Thad that his heart was trying to crowd up into his throat and choke him. This came about whenever he saw Bumpus make a more desperate lunge than usual and come within an ace of landing in the ditch, the car wrecked, and his own neck placed in extreme peril of being broken.
As Giraffe afterwards privately said, “There seems to be an especial little cherub aloft given the task of protecting children and fools”; and, if this were true, the angelic being had Bumpus in charge on that wild run.
Now Giraffe by dint of a spurt was close behind the car. Thad still chasing after, with Allan close beside him, waited in suspense to see how the tall comrade would manage. He knew just how he would act under similar conditions, and had enough faith in Giraffe to believe he could do at least as well.
They saw him lay hands on the rear of the car. Then he seemed to make a mighty effort, and the next thing they knew he was clambering, scrambling, getting aboard any way at all, so that he accomplished his aim.
No doubt he was also holding his peace so that poor, clumsy Bumpus might not be still further “rattled” with the knowledge that help had arrived in his sore extremity.
Then all at once Giraffe was seen to bend over and clutch the steering wheel. It was heartening to notice how quickly the car stopped that erratic wabbling, and settled down to doing a fairly straight run.
No doubt Giraffe was not telling Bumpus just what he must do with his freed hands, for they saw the fat boy lean over, while the car began to run slower and slower until it came to a dead stop.
Then for the first time did Thad allow himself to say a word. The relief from all that suspense was so great that he had to give expression to his satisfaction, which he did by gasping:
“Thank goodness, he did it—bully for Giraffe!”
“It sometimes pays to haveextralong legs!” was the characteristic remark made by Allan, as they both ran on, though at a reduced pace.
When they arrived at the now motionless car they found an extremely repentant Bumpus awaiting them.
“Don’t ask me how it happened, Thad,” he said sadly, “because I don’t know. I was sitting there, turning the wheel this way and that, and trying to imagine how it felt to be a real chauffeur, when all at once she gave a snort and a kick, just like an army mule that feels the lash, and commenced to start whizzing along the road. Oh! look at me, soaking wet with perspiration. Whew! I’ve had a lesson I won’t forget in a hurry. You don’t catch me fooling with a buzz saw again in a hurry, I promise you.”
With such a contrite culprit owning up to his faults what could Thad say? To scold Bumpus seemed almost cruel, and besides, Thad was feeling too well pleased over the successful outcome of the adventure to hurt the poor fellow’s feelings any more than was absolutely necessary.
Giraffe was not quite so tenderhearted, though feeling flushed with satisfaction over his recent victory.
“Guess you know now why your dad wouldn’t let you learn to run your big touring car at home, don’t you, Bumpus?” he jeered.
“I’m beginning to think he knew a heap better than I did about it,” admitted the humble Bumpus.
“It takes brains to run a car,” asserted Giraffe meaningly. “Some people never should try it, because they get rattled at the least little thing out of the ordinary, and go all to pieces.”
Bumpus heaved a great sigh; then one of his old-time smiles crept over his face, now white no longer on account of alarm.
“Well, I’m mighty glad I didn’t quite do that, Giraffe, by bringing up in the ditch, you know,” he started to say. “Gimme a little credit for escaping smashing things to splinters. And, Giraffe, I want to say that I’m ever so much obliged to you for doing what you did. It was a noble deed, and there are few fellows who could have carried it out half as well as you.”
After that splendid compliment, of course there was no use of Giraffe feeling hard toward the one who had just given them all such a scare. He smiled back at Bumpus, and the subject was dropped, so far as finding fault or laying down the law went.
“What shall we do now, Thad?” asked Allan.
“We might go back again to where we were,” suggested the other, with a curious look toward Bumpus, which the other noticed, and understood.
“What for, Thad?” he demanded. “If you’re meaning to let me get a drink, I refuse to allow it. I’m going dry, to make up in part for what I did. Serves me right, and I’ll get it rubbed in all the time I’m being half choked by the dust.”
Thad saw he meant it, too, and knew that Bumpus could be very stubborn when he wanted to. Besides, perhaps it would be just as well for him to punish himself in this way, since the more he suffered the less likelihood there was of the incident being repeated.
“Just as you say, Bumpus,” he remarked, as he climbed into the car again; “we’ll keep our eyes on the watch for a chance to stop at one of these cottages where they have a well in the yard, and you can get a drink there.”
“Thank you, Thad; it’s a lot more than I deserve,” said Bumpus; “but I tell you I had the surprise of my life when she gave that snort, and started to run away with me. I’m shivering yet with the excitement; just feel my hand, will you, Giraffe?”
Another start was made, everybody feeling satisfied that there had been no serious outcome of the adventure. To have had the car put out of the running would have caused them considerable distress; but they might have even forgiven that if only their jolly chum came through the accident unscathed.
It was really Thad himself who discovered a wayside cottage, with a well in the yard. Possibly Bumpus, bent on severe atonement, would never have called their attention to the same if he had been the only one to glimpse it.
He even began to demur when Thad said they would stop and ask for a drink; but Giraffe told him not to be foolish.
“Think we want you to get choking pretty soon, and scare us half to death?” he told the fat boy severely; but then Bumpus knew very well this was all assumed, and that Giraffe really wanted him to assuage his raging thirst.
So they came to a stop, and when a woman accompanied by several children came out of the cottage, Thad managed by signs to ask permission to drink at her well. She quickly understood what he wanted, and nodded an assent, even starting to draw a fresh bucket of water, though Thad took the rope from her hands, and completed the job.
During the next few hours they made progress, but the distance covered did not count for many miles. There were several reasons for this. In the first place Thad found he had made a mistake in the road, for his chart was not as accurate as it should have been, and of course to rectify this they had to go back and try it all over again.
Then Giraffe complained of being hungry, and that necessitated looking for some place where they might get something to eat. Coming to a village finally, they saw another tavern, and as money “talks” with people who keep caravansaries of any sort, arrangements were made whereby they might be supplied with a meal.