El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-05
By Mortimer Mansen

= ACKSON had often informed me.
in confidence that he intended
to buy a bicycle as soon as ever
his ship" landed. and. as matter OF
cource I had as often returned the
confidence by stating that it was also
my intention to make similar pur-
chase under like fortunate circum-
stances.
There are, however, goodly num-
Der of ships that seem in no hurry
about landing, and ours are of them
opportunfty Of hiring, instead OF buy
ing machine, we were not long IN
taking advantage of it.
Timothy Trueman, the village store
keeper, had recently added the selling
of cycles to his already multifarious
business. He had, moreover, under
taken to let them out on hire; bicycles
so much per hour, tricyeles SO much
more. When this fact was first made
known to the public in and about our
village. Jackson was enormously graf
fled and I was not less delighted for
I must confess that I had remark
able weakness for wheels.
Being DESTROYS of making our debut
as cyclists together, we concluded that
tricycle would best suit our purpose,
as it would be less likely to fall over
At Mr.. Truemans store We selected
machine that looked capable of carry
ing two stout young men, and, see
ing that we were not strangers, Tim
othv said we could keep the tricycle.
as many hours as we liked, and pay
on our return
Unfortunately for himself. but more
so for us, he did not foresee7 what
was in store for that machine.
70 vol "a a
selves we wheeled the tricycle. out of
the village before we attempted to
mount if Jackson stepped on first,
ara tried to seem as if he was used
70 II Very cautiously I followed suit,
for had some misgivings as 10
whether the thing would really bear
nv weight In spite OF jackson
cleverness and my own ingenuity, II
took us a long time to start that trl-
+ cycle; and when at last we MADE II
move our progress was not by any
! means alarmingly rapid. Somehow,
when the pedals were down, they re-
ouired a lot of coaxing to get them
nm again. and for a time we were
cononelIed TO travel slowly but sud
denly began to go faster Gradually
the gradient increased, and so did
the speed of the tricycle., whereat
jackson smiled, while I began to try
the brake.
"Therer, exclaimed Jackson, de-
liehtedly. we're off at last
eff not, we probably shall be be-
fore we get to the bottom of the hill "
/ suggested, as I cautiously applied
the brake
long deep valley lay right In
front of us and for a distance of over
three-quarters Of mile the road
showed a fearful declivity. The hill
was so steep that even practiced
wheeIman would have faced 1t with
great care. But Jackson seemed i'm
patient because I did not wish him to
break his neck, and mine.
Let it go. man; we're all right" he
said.
But we mustn't venture down that
hill Jackson" I expostulated; 'if we do
wouldn't answer for the safety of
the machine, and our necks." And
with that 1 again applied the brake
Keep that brake off, you chump,
and let it 60 What are you fright
ened att" demanded Jackson.
Manifestly the bump of Caution
was not largely devetoped in jack
sons Uranium. He was eager tc be
going at high speed, altogether I'M
mindful of the possible consequences,