Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1920-11-05
A Man, a Maid
and a Motor
By FREDERICK HART

" llCtl III . u W
continue on its way at 10 80 at night,
on a lonely road eight miles-if the
blue book is to be believed-from no.
where, there is not much one can do
about it except curse the garage at
which the last o~verhauling was done
and 10 ones best to repair the ma
chine. But when one is only twenty,
with no particular knowledge of the
intricacies with which manufacturers
fill the hoods of the motor cars they
put out, the task Of repairing may well
be given up as hopeless. So thought
PHYLLIS Deane as she sat disconsolate-
" in the seat of her little roadster and
wondered just what she was going to
do about it all. She had treasured
herself that there was plenty of gaso-
line in the tank, so the trouble, what
ever it was, involved more than a mere
reflling. Gwen If 1 could refill It,"
mourned Phyllis to herself, 81 just
know I'm out here miles from a ga
rage"
But the prospect of a night spent on
a lonely road in a broken down car,
with no prospect of help ever when
morning came, is enough to make the
stoutest heart quail, so we must not
blame Phyllis if she found herself chok-
ing back something that was suspi-
ciously like q sob. Then she left the
seat. lifted the hood and took another
despairing look into the tangled and
terrifying conglomeration of wires and
pines that confronted her gaze.
ooh, why didn't l take hat urse
In the motor school while / had the
chance !" walled she. "Or why did l
ever leave Aunt Mary's to drive home
alone when l might have known this
old bus would break down? Oh, I'm
the unluckiest girl in the world
what's that?"
'That" was nothing very terrifying,
but to the overweight girl it seemed
fraught with approaching doom. 1t
was a clear, masculine, whistle pro-
ceeding out of the blackness of the
road behind the car Ahead the front
lights cut a path of radiance that made
the road in the a seem dOubly dark
in comparison. 1t might be a tramp,
thought Phyllis, or a kidnaper, or a
murderer, or almost any n who
would be undesirable to meet at night
on a dark road without an introduce
ton. Instantly she made up her mind.
She would not stay to be murdered.
She would hide and see who the in
truder was.
Suiting the action to the thought she
slipped around the rear of the car and
concealed herself behind a friendly
bush, where she could see without be-
ing seen. The whistler approached.
She heard his footsteps come down
the hard-packed road at a brisk gait.
Another moment and he stood beside
the car. The whistle ceased.
Here's luck!" she heard him say.
Then in a louder tone: "Oh, whoever
owns this carl VIII you give me a
lift down the rOad?"
Silence rewarded him. He called
again, with no better result. Then he
walked to the front Of the car. His
glance took in the open hood and he
gave a long, low whistle.
$50 that's it," he said aloud, though
to himself. "a breakdown, and they've
left the car and gone on. Well, well, l
wonder whose car it is. l wonder"
still wondering, apparently, he stopped
over the hood. Phyllis heard him
fumbling about, then he emerged n
went on a hunt for the tool box. APP
parently his search was rewarded, Tor
he returned to the engine and she
heard the muffled clink of steel on
steel. He Strengthened with a salts
fed air and walked to the seat OF the
car, but this time his path took MN
through the beam of the twin head
lights and for the first time Phyllls
saw him distinctly.
She saw, not the tattered rogue her
imagination had conjured up, but a
tall, ~light-haired youth of apparently
about twenty-five, with a clean-cut race
and eyes that. THOUGH they blinked III
the white glow, wCre blue and Jolly'
He was dressed in = weed coat, loose
ly and comfortably iitting, with knlck-
er-bockers of the same material. n
cap and golf stockings n heaVy
shoes completed his sartorial equip
ment. But Phyllis acter the first swift
glance, found herSci.. looking again at
his eyes. She had :.tout decided mat
they were nice eye when he stepped
out of the light n was Immediately
swallowed up like disappearance III
the moving pictures
She heard him c'ilab into the seat
and press the butte. Of the self-start-
er. There was q .;rinding and then
the motor burst il 0 it's eight-cyln-
dered song. He t'eottled it down TO
idling speed and 81 . saw the Hare OF a
match as he lighte | cigarette. linen
he took hold of the steering Wheel
with one hand and reached orWaru
with the other. hvllis knew what
that meant and % he gears sllppeu
fntA a.. 1900 nn.I tho oar mONeu