Barrow (vehicle)

“ I’m going to have it, just the same.”
“I wish you wouldn’t,” she murmured. “Do you think he ought to drive an auto, Gordon? Don’t you think it’s too dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” answered Gordon. “I’ve never had much experience with automobiles. I suppose, though, that if one is careful——”
“Morris won’t be,” mourned Louise. “He’ll have an accident, kill himself, break his arm or something.”
“Oh, piffle, sis! I can run an automobile as well as any chap. I’ve done it. When I get the car you’ll be tickled to death, and you’ll want to be riding in it every minute.” ”

“ Presently Jerry came trotting down with a donkey cart used on the farm, and under his directions the boys folded their blankets neatly up, and placed them in the vehicle, which then drove off with its load, leaving [114] them to get out and pile together the other furnishings of the tents; for, of course, as soldiers, they were expected to wind up their own affairs, and we all know that boys will do considerable hard work when it comes in the form of play. ”

“ Hadn’t we better beat it?”
“We’re beating it now,” answered Gerald grimly, advancing the throttle lever a little. The steady whirr of the propeller increased and there was a louder sound from the engine below. “Take the wheel a minute, Kendall, while I douse some oil. Hold her just as she is.”
Kendall scrambled over and gripped the rim of the wheel, while Gerald stepped into the cabin and poked around with a long-nosed oil-can. The Dart was headed straight back for Wissining, but there was a good five miles ahead of her and the fog-bank was rolling in fast. ”

“ Folks who don’t drive autos always think that. Why, you’re just as safe in this thing as you are in the trolley. Safer, I guess. Remember when the car jumped the track year before last and killed six or seven people?”
“Yes, but I’ll take my chances with the trolley,” replied Gordon. “There it goes now. I wonder if the fellows caught it.”
“Sure. Anyway, we’ll soon see. I can catch that trolley as though it was standing still!” Morris pulled down his throttle and the little car bounded forward with a deeper hum of its engine. Gordon grasped the arm of the seat beside him. ”

“ One of you can sit on the seat and the other on the floor, Don't drag your feet, though, it tears up the road. All right? Here we go then."
The blue car chugged demurely enough down the street and took its place with a dozen other vehicles before the ferry slip. The driver shut off the engine, since the boat was only just entering, and turned to Nelson, who was in the seat, while Billy sat on the floor, with his knees hunched under his chin, and observed the world with a cheerful grin. "How long have you been this way?" asked the owner of the car. ”

“ He’s put a new man on Eighty-six. A man from one of the branch lines who doesn’t know the road. I doubt if he’s ever been over the main line before. Now, it’s an anxious enough time for me anyhow with a heavy train to take through, with the thermometer at zero, and the rails like glass, and I like to have a man in front that I can depend on.”
“It’s bad enough not to know the road,” said John gloomily, “but it’s worse not to know old Eighty-six. She’s a brute if she takes a notion.”
“I don’t suppose there is another engine that could draw this train and keep her time,” said the conductor. ”

“ Tom Burrill drew up in the shade at the side of the road, jumped from the car with a wrench in his hand and, lifting the hood, began to inspect the spark plugs.
He was a healthy, well-built, intelligent-looking boy of seventeen, with a lean, sunburned face. Clear gray eyes, a straight nose, a mouth that showed a sense of humor and a chin that indicated determination were his most noticeable features. He was tall for his years and had the look of one who spends much time out of doors.
The automobile deserves quite as full a description as its owner. ”

“ Naturally the car didn’t glide quite as smoothly over the city cobblestones as would a vehicle with pneumatic tires, but then one didn’t use the truck for pleasure riding. After it was in the garage Jimmy took up the floor-boards and exhibited and explained the engine, which was tucked away under the front of the car. The square radiator, which breasted the dash, held the maker’s name in brass letters and Tom [280] and Willard howled with anguish when Jimmy suggested removing it to save the trouble of keeping it polished. ”

“ Folks who can’t stand a speck of dust on their automobile will get out and eat their lunch and leave the place looking like a pigsty. Ought to be brought back and made to eat every scrap of the mess they leave behind them.”
“Right-o,” agreed Bob, “but I don’t believe these folks were automobilists, Ned. It’s a long way up here from the road.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Ned, “whether they came in a car or walked; they’re hogs just the same.”
“Well, let’s sit down and get our breaths,” said Polly, suiting action to words. “That’s a [149] perfectly frightful climb, isn’t it. ”

“ Loganport's about three miles, Norris. You might—er—see what sort of a record you can make!"
Barry scrambled back to the road, mounted, and was off. How he wished then for Tod's Purple Comet! But there was no thought now of holding Plury back. He pedaled hard for a minute and then swung his feet clear. The grade did the rest. Barry silently prayed that the bicycle would hold together and that the old worn tires would stand the test. Faster and faster sped the wheel. Trees and fences and rocks flew past like things in a dream. ”

“ The first thing I knew the wheel spun around almost out of my hands and we were smashing against that fence. I suppose there was something in the road I didn’t see. I made a grab for the emergency brake and tried to set it. Then I got a leg over the side of the car and—and that’s all I remember. How badly is the car smashed, Gordon?”
“The right front wheel has most of the spokes out of it, and the axle is bent on that side. And there are some dents in the running board and radiator and one lamp’s done for. ”

“ He was across the road in a second. “Get your plugs out,” he ordered Tom, “and see if mine will fit. Get a move on, if you want to earn that fifty.”
Tom hesitated for an instant. Then he said, “I’ll do the best I can, sir.”
By the time the chauffeur had found the new plugs Tom had taken the old ones out. Fortunately, the new ones fitted and the chauffeur quickly screwed them in. As Tom connected the wires, Mr. Fletcher issued directions to the chauffeur.
“Get my bag, Dennis. Put it between my feet here. You stay with the car and I’ll send out and have you towed home. ”

“ Flood that thing, will you?”
“One good turn deserves another,” murmured Chub. Roy flooded the carbureter for the twentieth time, remarking pessimistically that pretty soon they’d have to buy more gasolene, and Roy “turned her over” again. This time there was a real business-like sound from somewhere inside the engine and a puff of vapor came through the relief cock.
“Did you hear that?” cried Dick.
“Yes,” answered Roy hopefully. “It sounded almost as though it was going to start. Try it again.”
“When is a fly-wheel not a fly-wheel?” asked Chub. “Answer: when it doesn’t fly around. Good.” ”

“ And by ten o’clock I’d bought one!”
“What’s it like?” asked Willard eagerly.
“A peach! They call it a light delivery truck. It’s got a body big enough to hold twenty trunks, I guess, and it’ll haul a ton. It’s got a two-cylinder engine, twenty-six horsepower; planetary transmission; brakes on the rear hubs. It’s a Phelps. Made in Springfield, Massachusetts, which is good in case we have to send for new parts; won’t take long to get ’em; see? It has solid tires instead of pneumatic, which is saving. There’s no top, but we can have a good big rubber tarpaulin to pull over the load. ”

“ And soon after that Martin Townsend—for that, it developed, was the car owner’s name—turned the automobile into a field and jumped out.
“How do you like my garage?” he inquired laughingly.
“You don’t mean it lives out here?” exclaimed Nelson. The other nodded.
“Surest thing you know. They aren’t very much interested in our autos. I notice, though, that the officers are mighty glad to borrow them when they want to get to town, or to beg a ride. Say, I’ve gone into New London with eight in that old boat! Had them clinging on to every part except the wheels! ”

“ An automobile almost ran them down half-way across, a trolley car ground its brakes in seeming chagrin as they leaped out of its path, and, after that, they were forced to remain marooned between track and curbing for many moments before a tiny break in the line of vehicles allowed them to squeeze through. ”

“ We’ll keep as quiet as we can about it, but I don’t think it matters whether the chap down there wakes up or not. He won’t be a match for the three of us, I guess. I’ll stay below and if he tries to break through the door I’ll lay him out with a wrench. You and Tom get the anchor up and the other boats fixed. Don’t give the Sylph much rope; about four feet will do; we don’t want to get it wound around the propeller. For the love of Mike, Barry, get out from under my feet! Yes, I’m awfully glad to see you, of course, but I’ll tell you about it later.” And Nelson crept back to the engine room. ”

“ That is a nice quart can of metal polish.”
“Huh! I’d like to know what I’ve got to do with it!”
“Oh, the cook always shines the bright-work.”
“Now, look here——”
“Careful,” warned Nelson, “or we’ll put you in irons for mutiny.”
“Guess the iron wouldn’t be any worse than the brass,” said Tom with a grin.
At half-past eleven all was in readiness. One of the yard hands threw off the mooring rope and Bob took the wheel. Dan and Tom stood at the engine-room door and watched Nelson as he turned on the gasoline, looked to his vaporizer valve, and closed his battery switch. ”

“ The fact is, we aren’t getting all our speed. There’s something wrong somewhere, and I guess it’s the gasoline. It was probably pretty poor stuff; full of water, I dare say.”
“But there’s no fear of the engine stopping, is there?” asked Bob. Nelson shook his head.
“Not likely; but she’s missing a spark now and then, and she may do worse than that. I don’t believe we’re doing better than ten and a half miles.”
“Well, if we can beat her at that,” said Dan, “what’s the use of worrying?” ”

“ With that Jack Steele went out into the furnace of the sun across the dusty road and entered the composite car. The Farmers' Road did not join rails with the main line, and so caused much extra handling of freight. The engine stood there simmering in the heat, both external and internal, a slight murkiness of smoke rising from its funnel, shaped like an inverted bell.
"Hallo, Joe!" cried Steele, as he entered the car. "Don't you yearn for home and friends?"
The man was sprawling on two seats, with a newspaper over his head, as the station-master had predicted. ”

“ Wells’s [287] blue roadster was standing, a bit faded as to paint, a bit battered as to mud-guards, but having the self-assurance and poise of a car that has traveled far and seen life. Laurie, to whom automobiles were ever a passion, stopped and looked it over. “Nice old bus,” he observed, laying a friendly hand on the nickeled top of the brake-lever. “Let’s take a spin, Ned.”
“Nice old bus,” Laurie observed, “let’s take a spin, Ned”
Ned laughed. ”

“ Ned was looking rather white.
“You know nothing about the incident?”
“No, sir!”
“And you, Edward?”
[304]
“No, sir.”
“But, if you deny the automobile part of it, why not deny the rest? I see, though. You knew that Mr. Cornish had seen you climbing in at the window. I’m afraid you won’t get anywhere that way, Edward. Mr. Wells’s car was taken from the front of the school last evening and driven out Washington Street six blocks, where it was in collision with a hydrant. It was abandoned there. A reliable witness states positively that there were two persons in the car just before the accident. ”

“ Nelson put an uneasy head around the side of the wagon, but, except [195] that a sudden lurch brought his ear in violent contact with a piece of wood, nothing resulted. At that moment the horses turned to the right, the front wheels jarred down a little declivity and the wagon began to move faster.
“Ata boy!” approved Martin. “Some speed to these nags, what? Blessed if they aren’t actually trotting! Or were,” he added with less enthusiasm as the horses dropped to a walk again. “Get ap, consarn ye! Wish to goodness I had a whip! Or a stick of dynamite!” ”

“ There was very little sea to-day and The Dart sped along on an almost even keel. And how she did go! Fourteen miles, said Gerald, but it seemed to Kendall that it must be more than that. Gerald, from where he sat at the wheel in the cockpit, could look along the roof of the cabin and had a clear view of the course. Everything for the control of the launch was within reach, spark, throttle, clutches and a strident electric whistle.
“It’s just like an automobile, isn’t it?” said Harry with a sigh of envious admiration. ”

“ Barrymore had stopped the car. "We are in luck," said he.
"Why?" I asked. "Have we killed the Serpent-thing—whatever [Pg 180] it is?"
Then he laughed. "The Serpent-thing is the outer covering of the tyre on one of our driving wheels," he explained. "And we're in luck because, after that ghastly road it isn't the tyre itself. This is nothing; I'll tear it off, and the good old tyre's so sound that we can go on with its skin off, until Bellagio, when I'll put on a new one before we start again. ”