Evening star., 1922-10-29

or worn gears. or bugged caTburetor?
Fine. Then what's to prevent us from
pulling out as soon as we can load
up? How about you, Inez; will it take
you long to pack?"
II got everything in the bag but my
toothbrush already" says Inez. 1.-TWO
! weeks ago it was that way"
And you, Uncle Nels?" says l.
! II was gonna see about havin' that
hog killed" says he. "but I guess
Mrs. Jewett and Dunk can look after
, it as we'll"
why not?" says l. They're going
| to have all winter to attend to such
| things. Sairy can close up the front
of the house. too, and have the
| plumber come out and drain the pipes.
1 can write out all the dope for that
| when We get to town. And they can
send down what we need in the way
of pickles and preserves and SO on.
Which settles that. And now for
| speedy getaway. Come on. Express
for Sd avenue leaves in twenty five
minutes"
| Yes, it was rather quick shift; but
when you know what you want why
not go to it? And it's odd how one
| minute you're perfectly contented
| with the woods and fields and hills.
and the next you want to be back on
| paved streets among the skyscrapers
| Anyway, we We're unanimous, and in
| no time at all we were as busy pack
! ing as if We were on a sinking
steamer. We weren't ready to leave
| quite on schedule, but very near it,
so the forenoon was still young when
i little touring car, with luggage
slowed all about us. tied on the rum
ming board and even draped on the
! front mudguards. No one seemed to
mind that except Inez.
| HUH says she. I'VE must look
like some of them tin-canners, startin
for Florida"
"Too bad about that, Inez," says I.
''But the main object of this ex-
cursion isn't to give folks along the
way treat-it's to get to New York,
you know. We're all set, Barry. Tie
her loose"
He was just throwing in the gear.
too, when he stopped and shut off.
What about that tavern sign, Trilby
May?" he asks. "Going to leave that
up all winter?"
! Heavens no." says I. "Sairy's all
| right as a cook, but l don't want to
trust her with my reputation as a
( landlady. Call Dunk and let's take
| it down."
| < !: * K
jTTAvING unhinged the heavy sign
| / i and parked it in the woodshed.
we waved goodbye to Sairy and
Dunk and Millie, and were off in a
cloud of dust. Barry hadn't had time
to look up any blue book routes. but
it was just as well, perhaps. for he
| hasn't much Of memory for such
things He followed his usual tour
ing method-simply pointed the radi-
ator cap due south and stepped on
| the gas.
| We did do a lot of humping over
rough dirt roads for the first hour
or so, but at last, more by good luck
| than anything else, we nit tHe main
highway that leads down through the
| Connecticut valley and began bowl
| ing along at forty miles an hour or
better 1 know it was fully as fast
as that. for when this bus of Barry's
gets to making better than thirty all
the numerous rattles and squeaks
sort of merge into shriil hum that
fairly shrieks of speed. Some driver,
Barry is. He only eases off on the
accelerator when the rear wheels get
to switching from side to side, or
when he has to negotiate right
angle underpass below railroad.
So we got flying glimpses of bare
tobacco fields. of cute little towns
where the selectmen had posted
traffic signs at either end, of stretches
of the river, and of blue hills in the
distance. 1 have blurred memory
of skittering through the edge of
Springfield, of booming along over
miles of wide cement road between