Bert Wilson at the Wheel

by William Osborn Stoddard

  CHAPTER XIV

  WITH DEATH BEHIND

  Pop! Pop! Bang! The "Red Scout's" motor gave a few preliminaryexplosions, and then started off with a sound like a whole battery offield guns going off at once. A cloud of black smoke issued from theexhaust, and in a few seconds had enveloped the car so that it couldhardly be seen. Some of the boys came running up with consternationwritten in their faces, evidently thinking that the automobile was aboutto explode, or run away, or do some equally disastrous thing. They werereassured by Bert's broad grin, however, and Bob Ward gave a relievedlaugh.

  "Gee!" he exclaimed, "what's the matter with the old machine, anyway,Bert? You had us scared stiff there for a few minutes. I thought thatafter this when we wanted to get anywhere we'd have to walk, sure. Itlooked as though the old 'Scout' were on fire."

  "It sure did," confirmed Frank. "What _was_ the matter, Bert?"

  "Oh, nothing to speak of," replied Bert airily. "I had just washed theengine out with a little kerosene oil, and, when I started it, why, ofcourse that burned, and gave out the smoke you saw. I don't wonder thatyou thought something was up, though," he continued, laughing. "Itcertainly did look like the 'last days of Pompeii' for a few seconds,didn't it?"

  "That's what it did," broke in Shorty, "and seeing all that smokereminded me of a riddle I heard a little while ago."

  "Go on, Shorty, tell us the riddle and get it out of your system,"laughed Bert. "If you don't it might grow inward and kill you. Somebrands of humor are apt to work that way, you know."

  "Well, the riddle is this," said Shorty. "Why is it that an automobilesmokes?"

  Many were the answers to this, but at each one Shorty shook his head.Finally he said, "Well, do you give it up?"

  "I guess we'll have to, fellows," grinned Bert. "Go on and tell us,Shorty; why _is_ it that an automobile smokes?"

  "Because it can't chew," crowed Shorty triumphantly, and dodged just intime to avoid a piece of greasy waste that Bert threw with unerring aimat his head. Amid cries of "Lynch him!" and "This way out!" and "Don'tlet him escape alive, fellows," Shorty took nimbly to his heels andskipped behind a tree. After the excitement had subsided Bert returnedto his grooming of the "Red Scout," and soon had matters fixed to hisentire satisfaction.

  It was a hot, sticky afternoon, and the boys had nothing particular todo outside of the routine duties of the camp. They had been lying aroundon the grass, lazily talking and listening to the drowsy hum of anoccasional locust, when one had said:

  "Gee, I wish to goodness there was a little wind stirring. I feel asthough in about five minutes I would become a mere grease spot on thelandscape."

  "Well," Bert had replied, "if you feel that way about it, why notmanufacture a little wind of our own?"

  "Manufacture it," had come a chorus of surprised protest, "how in timecan you manufacture wind?"

  "Oh, it's very simple when you know how," Bert replied, in an offhandmanner. "What's to prevent us from piling into the auto and taking aspin? When we get out on the road I think I can promise you all thebreeze you want. What do you say, fellows? Want to try it?"

  The answer was an uproarious shout of approval, and accordingly Bert hadbeen getting the machine in shape.

  In a short time they were ready to start, and as they were getting inthey discerned Shorty's stocky form emerging from the trees. He signaledfrantically for them to wait, and soon came up panting.

  "Say, you weren't going without me, were you?" he asked reproachfully.

  "Well," laughed Bert, "you deserve almost anything after springing athing like that on us, but I guess we can forgive you, if we try realhard. Shall we take him along, fellows?"

  "I don't see what Shorty needs to come for, anyway," said Ben, slyly."It seems to me that a fellow that can run as fast as Shorty did alittle while ago can make all the wind he needs himself. He doesn't haveto get in an automobile to get swift motion."

  "That's so," agreed Bert, with a serious face, "still, probably Philiphas other views, and so we might as well give him the benefit of thedoubt. Jump in, old scout."

  This was easier said than done, however, as the big red auto was alreadyliterally overflowing with perspiring boys, but they managed to squeezein, and started off, singing three or four different songs all at thesame time, and each one in a different key.

  Nobody seemed to be bothered much by this, however, and they soonreached the hard, level, macadam high road. Bert "opened her up" a fewnotches, as he expressed it, and they were soon bowling along at anexhilarating pace. The breeze that Bert had promised them soon madeitself felt, and you may be sure it felt very grateful to the overheatedboys.

  "This beats lying around on the grass and whistling for a wind, doesn'tit?" asked Frank, and, needless to say, all the rest of the boys wereemphatically of his opinion.

  They had been going along at a brisk pace for several miles when theyheard the purr of another motor car in back of them, and glancing backsaw a handsome-looking blue auto creeping up to them. A flashily dressedyoung man, smoking a cigarette, was driving it, and three girls weresitting in the tonneau. The blue machine overtook them steadily, andsoon was abreast of them.

  "Gee, Bert," exclaimed Frank, excitedly, but in a low voice, "you're notgoing to let them pass us, are you?"

  "Oh, let them, if they want to," replied Bert; "we didn't come out for arace, and I feel just like loafing along and taking things easy. What'sthe use of getting excited about things on a hot day like this? Besides,I don't think those people are looking for trouble, anyway."

  At this point the blue car passed them, however, and as it did so oneof the girls in the tonneau looked back and called, "How does the dusttaste, boys? Like it?" The fellow driving it laughed at this sally, andshouted, "Hey, youse, why don't you get a horse?"

  All the boys looked at Bert to see how he would take this. He said nevera word, but his grip tightened on the steering wheel, and the "RedScout" gave a lunge forward that almost jerked some of the boys out oftheir seats. Faster and faster the powerful car flew, and it was evidentthat they would soon overtake the blue car. The latter was also a firstrate machine, however, and the boys could see one of the girls in thetonneau lean over and speak to the driver. The blue car started to drawslowly away, and Bert opened the throttle a few more notches. The motortook on a deep, vibrating note, and the hum of the gears rose to ahigher pitch. Soon they began to overtake the car in front, and now itbecame evident that the latter was doing its best. The "Red Scout"fairly "ate up" the intervening space, and in a few moments had come upto within a few yards of the laboring blue car. The driver looked back,and seeing that the big red car in back of him would surely pass him inanother few seconds, swerved his own car over so that it was squarely inthe middle of the narrow country road. There was a shallow ditch oneach side of the road, and the only way Bert could pass him was to takea chance of overturning and run two wheels in this ditch. Usually hewould not have thought of exposing the boys to such a risk, but now hethrew caution to the winds. Amid hoarse and excited cries from the boyshe "gave her the limit," to use his own expression, and the "Red Scout"seemed fairly to leap ahead.

  He swerved the big machine into the ditch, and the wheels bumped andpounded over the uneven surface. The big car fairly shot by the bluemachine, however, and amid a triumphant shout from the frenzied boysregained the smooth road and hid the defeated challenger in a cloud ofdust.

  Then Bert slowed it down a little, but kept well in the lead. The bluemachine had evidently given up in despair, however, and graduallydropped back until a turn in the road hid it from their view. The boysbroke into an excited discussion of the recent "brush," and all wereenthusiastic in their praise of the staunch old "Red Scout." They alsohad many flattering things to say in regard to Bert's driving, until hewas forced to protest that he would have to buy a hat about five sizeslarger, as he could fairly feel his head swelling.

  Finally the excitement subsided somewhat, and the boys had time to lookaround them and get their bearings. It d
id not take them long to findthat they were in unfamiliar surroundings. They had gone at such a fastpace that they had covered more ground than they would have believedpossible. Bert consulted the odometer, or distance recording instrument,and announced that they had covered almost thirty-five miles!

  "Say!" he exclaimed, "we'll have to do some tall hustling to get back tothe camp in time for lunch. We'll keep on a little way, until we get toa place where the road is wide enough to turn around in, and then we'llbeat it back as fast as possible."

  As he finished speaking, they rounded a sudden turn in the road and agasp arose from every boy in the car. Not fifteen feet ahead of them wasa railroad crossing, and giving a lightning-like glance up and down thetrack Bert saw that there was a train approaching from both directions.It was obvious that the automobile would not be able to get across intime, and at the brisk rate at which they were traveling, it was equallyimpossible to stop the machine. It seemed inevitable that the auto wouldbe struck by one or both of the ponderous locomotives, and it and itsoccupants be crushed to atoms.

  The boys turned sick with horror, and gripped the sides of theautomobile without being able to say a word. Their eyes gazed withoutwinking at the two rushing locomotives, and they were unable to move.

  But Bert saw that they had one, and only one, bare chance of life. Hedid not try to apply the brakes, which would have been useless andfatal, but as the big auto reached the railroad tracks he wrenched thesteering wheel around and headed it directly up the track in front ofthe northbound train. As he did this he opened the throttle, and bentover the wheel in a desperate and almost hopeless attempt to beat theflying locomotive until the engineer, who of course was using everymeans in his power to stop his train, could check its momentum and givethem a chance to escape.

  The "Red Scout" bumped and swayed wildly over the uneven ballastingand ties, and the boys breathed heartfelt prayers that nothing on thestaunch car would break. In spite of all Bert could do, the fast expresstrain gained on them, although sparks were streaming from the wheelswhere the brakes were clamped against them. The engineer had reversedthe locomotive, and the great driving wheels were revolving backward.

  The momentum of a fast and heavy express train is not a thing tobe checked in a moment, however, and the boys in the rear of theautomobile could feel the heat from the locomotive boiler.

  But the powerful automobile had gotten "into its stride" by this time,and was fairly flying over the uneven roadbed, and to the boys it feltas though it were only hitting the high places, as Frank afterwardexpressed it. For a hundred or two hundred feet the train failed to gainan inch, and then the brakes began to tell and it gradually fell to therear.

  Shorty leaned over and thumped Bert on the back and yelled: "Slow up,Bert, slow up! We're out of danger now, I guess."

  Bert glanced back, and saw that Shorty was right. They were drawingrapidly away from the locomotive, so he reduced speed, and the automobilegradually attained a safer pace, and at the first opportunity Bert swungit up off the tracks and onto a country road. This done, he stopped themachine, and leaning on the steering wheel, buried his face in his hands.He said not a word, and the boys could see that he was trembling like aleaf. In a few moments he recovered himself, however, and the boys beganto overwhelm him with questions:

  "How did you ever think of going up the track instead of trying to getacross, Bert?" inquired Frank. "If you had tried to cross that wouldhave been the last of us, because we could never have made it."

  "I did it because it was the only thing to be done, I guess," repliedBert, in a shaky voice. "I'm no end of a fool to go at that speed on aroad that I don't know, anyway. I don't know what I could have beenthinking of to take such chances. Mr. Hollis will never have anyconfidence in me again, I guess."

  "Nonsense!" retorted Bob, indignantly. "Why, if Mr. Hollis could haveseen the presence of mind you showed, I think he would trust you all themore, if that is possible. Not one person in a hundred would havethought of doing what you did."

  "Yes, but that's not all of it, by any means," said Bert, in a mournfulvoice. "I'll bet that we've broken something on the old car, as well asalmost getting ourselves converted into sausage meat. Here goes to lookthings over, anyway."

  A thorough inspection failed to reveal any break in the mechanism orframe, however, and even the tires were intact. Finally Bert straightenedup with a relieved expression on his face, and said: "Well, I can't seemto find anything at present, that's one comfort. However, I wouldn't havebelieved that any car could stand such punishment and hold together. Wewon't kick against fate, though, for not smashing our car for us, willwe?"

  "I guess not," agreed Shorty, heartily, "I think we ought to thank ourlucky stars that any of us are left to talk about it, even. It's morethan we had a right to expect fifteen minutes ago."

  "I guess you're right, Shorty, at that," agreed Bert, "but now, we'dbetter make a quick sneak back to camp. Mr. Hollis will have given us upfor lost."

  Accordingly the boys all climbed into the car, and they were soonhumming along on their homeward journey. You may be sure that Bertslowed down almost to a walking pace at every turn they came to,however, and once, just for fun, he said, "Say, Shorty, I don't like thelooks of that curve ahead of us. Perhaps you had better get out and goon ahead to make sure that the coast is clear. I intend to be on thesafe side this time."

  Shorty immediately entered into the spirit of the joke, and vaulted outover the side of the tonneau while the auto was yet in motion, anddisappeared around the curve. As the auto crept around the bend itsoccupants could see Shorty waving his handkerchief and signaling forthem to come on. Bert laughingly complied, and, as they passed Shorty,stopped a moment to give him a chance to climb aboard. Shorty was soonin his place, and Frank laughed.

  "Gee, Bert, that's being careful for fair. If Mr. Hollis could have seenthat I think it would have made up for our going too fast and almostgetting smashed up. What do _you_ say, fellows?"

  There was a unanimous chorus of assent to this proposition, but Bertdid not join in the laughter. He felt in his heart that he had beencareless, and he knew that even his subsequent presence of mind ingetting them out of a tight scrape did not wholly atone. His mind wasfilled with these thoughts, when Bob said, "Say, fellows, I don't seewhy we have to say anything to Mr. Hollis about our near accident, atall. It will just make him angry at us, and maybe he will not want tolet us use the car again. Besides, now that it's all over, it won't dohim any good to know what a narrow escape we've had."

  "No, no, Bob, that would never do in the wide world," replied Bert,quickly, and in a reproving voice. "The last thing we ought to think ofis to deceive Mr. Hollis, and you know it. I'm surprised that you shouldeven have mentioned such a thing."

  "Well, there's no harm done, is there?" replied Bob, but in a rathershame-faced manner. "We won't do it if you don't think we ought to,so there's no use getting mad about it. I just offered that as asuggestion, that's all."

  "Well," replied Bert, "the chief blame for this thing lies on me,anyway, and as soon as we get back to camp I intend to make a cleanbreast of the whole matter to Mr. Hollis, and he can do as he thinksbest."

  "Oh, all right, have it your own way," growled Bob, sullenly, and theyrelapsed into silence. By this time it was almost dark, and Bert wasforced to drive very slowly, as he had never been over that particularroad before. He had a well-developed sense of location, however, and waspretty sure that he was going in the right direction.

  As it proved he was not deceived in this, and they shortly struck a roadwith which they were all familiar. Bert ventured to accelerate theirpace somewhat, and it was not long before they came in sight of thecheery camp fire, around which Mr. Hollis and the boys who had not goneon the automobile trip were seated. As they heard the sound of themachine the group around the fire leaped to their feet, and Mr. Holliswalked slowly toward them. When the auto swung into the circle of firelight and came to an abrupt halt, he said:

  "What has been detainin
g you, boys? It seems to me that you are nottreating me quite right by going off in this manner and returning atsuch an hour as this. Why, you should have been back two hours ago."

  A chorus of excited exclamations rose from the boys, but Mr. Hollisraised his hand for silence. When this had been restored, he said, "Oneat a time, boys, one at a time. Here, Bert, let's hear yourexplanation."

  This Bert proceeded to give in a very straightforward manner, and didnot attempt to gloss over any of the details of his recklessness, as hewas pleased to call it.

  Mr. Hollis listened with a serious face, and when Bert had finished,said, "Well, Bert, you were certainly to blame for taking chances in themanner that you did, but, on the other hand, you deserve credit for thepresence of mind and courage you showed in extricating your companionsand yourself from what might very easily have been a fatal accident.Still, you were right to tell me all about it, and I think that to-day'sexperiences may have the effect of making you more careful in thefuture."

  "You may be sure, sir, that I will never be so careless again," promisedBert, and by the tone of his voice, Mr. Hollis knew that he meant it.

  It was a hungry lot that sat down to supper that evening, and little wasspoken of except their thrilling experiences of the day. After supper,however, they began to feel the effects of the exciting day, and allexpressed themselves "tuckered out." As Frank said, "He felt too tiredto take the trouble of going to sleep."

  They all managed to overcome this very important objection, however, andsoon there was no sound to be heard in the camp except the rustling ofthe embers in the camp fire as they slowly burnt themselves out andsettled into ashes.