Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-02
iightniing
Conductor
By
chr AMWllllAMSON

need Oil?"
Sure. miss" returned Rattray 1.-THE
crank-heafs all right. That squeak amt
anything to worry about"
So I didn't worry. and we bowled along
Tor twenty perfect minutes, then something
went smash inside, and we stopped dead.
It was the crank-head. which was nearly
red hot. The crank had snapped like a
carrot I was too PROSTATE, and, trust,
TOO proud to say things to Rattray, though
II he had just made sure that the lubricator
was working properly we should have been
Fortunately we had lately passed big
garage by the Pont de Suresnes, and we
"coasted' to 1t down the hill. although OF
course our engine was paralyZed. You
Couldn't expect 1t to work without head,
even though that head was only "crankr'
dued He knew he was in fault, and
meekly proposed to take an electric tram
back to Paris there to see II a new crank
could could be bought to fit, otherwise one would
three days. AT this remarked icily that
In the latter case we would not proceed
with the trip. and he could return to Lon
don; Usually he retorted, If 1 showed the
merely asked If would give him the money
TO ouy the new crank If 1t were obtainable.
nao only couple Of louis in change
ana ana ye-hundred franc note. SO 1 gave
as possible, probably in an hour and a half
Aunt Mary and 1 found our way gloomily
10 little third-class restaurant, where we
h hau c1Hee and things: Time crept on and
passed l walked back to the garage but
the proprietor had no news The car was
standing In the place where they had
olaggeo II. and l climbed up to sit in
IL couldn't bear to go back to Aunt Mary
until something had happened Then
something did happen, but not the thing
NAG wanted. The very car that had stop
WON, In,
tne olac> smiths, far ON the other side Of
Par1s, more than a week ago, came glid-
Ing smoothly, deliciously into the garage
me same TWO leather-capped and coated
men were In 1t, master and chauffeur /
thought The madame Of the establishment
was talking alphabetically to me, but l
heard the voice Of the man who had asked
me If he could help (the one | had taken
for the mastery inquiring in French for a
particular kind of essence. Then l didn't
near any more. He and the garage man
were speaking In lower tones. and besides
the shrtll condolences of madame drowna6
their murmurs. She was loudly giving II
as her opinion that my chauffeur had run
on with my money, and that unless 1
nad some means of tracing him. should
never look upon his face again. / did wish
that she would be quiet, at least until the
fortunate automobiles rolled awav like
kings In their chariot; but couldn't make
n nes stop "a, and l was certain they heard
they had deserted the subject of
petrol for my troubles, because l could see
OUT or a corner of an eye that the pro
prle!oI In his conversation with them
nodded more than once toward INV car in
which l sat ingloricusly enthroned like a
sort Of captive Zenobia. anu "
They seemed to be a long time buying
tnelr petrol, anyway, and presently NV
worst fears were confirmed The man who
mad spoken to me on the fatal hill came
Forward, repeating himself dixie history, by
taxing on his cap and wearing exactly the
I'll tod
before. S@-'1' ''
He said FER once or twice, and then In
formed me that the proprietor had been
telling him what a scrape l was in or
words to that effect. He offered to drive
into Paris on his car, which would only
take a few minutes. go to the place where
crank, see whether he had been there. and
II so. what delayed him. Then. If anything
were wrong he would come back and let
me know
l said that I couldn't possibly let him
take so much trouble, but he would hardly
listen. He knew the address of the place
from the garage man, who had recommend
ed II to Rattray, and almost before knew
what had happened the car and the dusty
leather-clad men were off
There was nothing for me to do but to
go back to Aunt Mary, which l did In no
happy frame of mind.
That Napier must have tossed It's bonnet
at the legal limit of speed, for In less than
an hour it drew up before this restaurant
came into the room where Aunt Mary and
1 had sat SO long reading old French papers
I'm sorry to have to tell YOU" said he
in his nice voice, that your man appears
to be a scoundrel. He hasn't been to LIE
Sage's, nor to another place which 1 tried
I'm afraid he has gone off with your money.
and that your only hope of getting 1t will
be to track the fellow with a detective"
II don't want to track him. l said. IT
never want to see him again, and l don't
care about the money. I'll engage another
chauffeur. There must be plenty in Paris"
AS 1 said this he had rather a curious
look on his face. l didn't understand 1t
then, but did afterward. I'm afraid you'll
find very few who understand your make OF
car" he said, (which is German, and-er-
perhaps not up to the very latest date
II believe anything Of It," said I.
But now the cranks broken, and
I've taken the liberty of bringing an
other, which we took out of a similar car
broke in the man. THE proprietor of the
garage across the way thinks he can put 1t
in for you; If not, l can help him, for
once drove car of the same make as
YOURS and have reason to remember it,
burst into thanks and when had used
up most of my prettiest adjectives l asked
how long the work would take. He thought
only few hours, and my car might be
ready to start again In the afternoon.
I clapped my hands at this; then l could
feel my face fall. Funny expression. isn't
itP-almost as absurd as 1 dropped my
eyes," but l think l did that too) How
lovely!' said 1. And then, But what good
II I can't get chaureurF'
The mans face grew red-not a bricky
ugly red but as he was very brown al
ready, it only turned nice mahogany col
! or, and made him look quite engaging. IF
you would take me-" he said, Il am at your
service"
never was more astonished in my life,
and I just sat and stared at him. / was
sure he must be making fun.
''Of course you'll think 1t strange" he
went on in a hurry; ''but the fact is, I'm
out of job"
why, are you a real chauffeur-a me-
chanic?' 1 couldn't help breaking in on
him. I almost blurted out that had taken
him for the master. which would have been
horrid. of course. and suddenly 1 was
ashamed Of myself. for I had been treat
ing him exactly like equal; and per-
haps 1 was silly enough to be tiny bit
disappointed too. for I'll confess to you,
Dad, that I'd had visions Of his being
some one rather grand, which would have
spread little jam Of romance over the
stale, dry bread of this dsagreeable ex-
perience. Anyhow, this man was much bet
ter looking than his companion whom l
knew now was the master. He wasn't a
gorgeous person, like Mr.. Cecil-Lanstown,
but I'd certainly thought he had rather a
distinguished air. However, these English
men, even the peasants, are sometimes such
anierd did tvpes-clear-cut features brave