Morris tribune., 1911-10-06

He glanced up the hill where Dibbs
had disappeared and then perplexedly
at the machine. His eye caught the
amused glance of Mrs. Parsons chauf-
feur. Possibly the man guessed that he
could not run a car, and he hesitated
to confess his helplessness before them
all, especially her.
"Hurryr' warned Mrs. Parsons. "You
haven't minute to sparew
Pauls jaws snapped together, and he
bent down and cranked the car. He
! could do that to perfection. 1t had
been his first lesson. Then, still sting
ing under the skeptical smile Of Henri,
he took his place at the Wheel pulled
a lever, and. with one last desperate
glance up the hill, he managed, more
by luck than skill, to get out into the
middle of the road and dash swiftly
down it's length.
He kept to the middle of the road.
His course was undertaking because he
clutched the steering wheel with des-
perate hands and held it rigidly in
position. The road was straight and
ran, hard, white oyster shell ribbon.
into a blurred distance. He had for
gotten to inquire what junction" Miss
Judd wished to reach, and. as a matter
of fact, he was not acquainted with
the locality. When ten delirious miles
had curled from under the tires he
turned and shouted the question at
her:
"Where is the junction?'
81 don't knoWw Her sweet voice
fiuttered in his ear. I'm so sorry, Mrs.
Parsons The breeze stole away the
rest of the sentence.
Paul groaned and bent to his task,
resolving to enter the first decent cross
road he came to. Railroad functions
were usually situated on a we'll trav
eled road, and he could not miss it.
Perhaps there would be signboard.
There were signboards, but the speed
of the machine was such that they
whizzed past his line Of vision like soli-
tary white birds.
The clock in front of him denoted
HOO, and he was still rushing along
the road at goodness knows how many
miles an hour when he felt the pres
sure of a light hand on his fur clad
shoulder There was Whit Of fresh
violets with her voice as she spoke
again, this time anxiously:
"Perhaps we had better go back, Mr..
Tinkleton. I'm afraid it is too late
to reach the junction. There is the
train whistle now!'
He tried desperately to reduce his
speed, but somehow his wits forsook
him, and his pull was at the wrong
lever, and their onward rush was ter
rife.
"Oh, don't, please" came the voice
from behind. Don't try to catch the
train! Look out!'
He had slightly turned his head when
she spoke and had not noticed road
that crossed the highway. A farm
wagon along this road was hurrying
to avoid collision with him. Miss Judd's
warning cry came too late. The motor
car grazed the tailboard Of the wagon.
and the vehicle swung violently aside
and dislodged a pyramid Of crates,
and the onward flight Of the red car
was followed by loud denunciations
| from the enraged farmer and the
frightened squawks from a hundred
chickens.
After that his way was troubled with
many narrow escapes from disaster.
The road seemed suddenly alive with
vehicles of every description, and their
avoidance of a serious accident was
due more to the skillful driving Of the
people they met than to any ability on
Pauls part. He had the middle of the
road.
He wondered desperately what he
could do. He had pulled and pushed
at every lever, and still they rushed
on.
"Mr. Tinkleman''-this time she spoke
angrily-"will you please take me back
to Mrs. Parsons"
"I'll try" he called back, and he
determined to turn around at the very
next open space the road afforded.
They had left little village where
whole galaxy Of stars had beamed
upon Paul's frantic passing, and the
road ahead was straight and narrow
and bordered on either side by the
high stone wall of a private estate.
There was no evidence of a space large
enough to whirl the car about at top
speed.
Just then the little hand pressure
was on his shoulder again, and this
fine If was followed nv firm
clutch Then something brushed his
cheek, and daring feat had been ac-
complished. Miss Judd had calmly
climbed over the back Of the seat and
was beside him, and the car. was
going like a red streak. Paul was
angry because Of her temerity and
with himself for being the cause of it.
care you intoxicated. or don't you
know how to run this car?' Miss
Judd's determined voice whipped him
like a lash; and he turned and said to
ho ch ho- eoSI in