CHAPTER XV
FRANK TURNS CHAUFFEUR
"Don't you want your gun?" asked Bones, in a low voice, thatshowed some trace of excitement; for, truth to tell, Bones wasinclined to be suspicious by nature, and there had been storiestold lately throughout that section, of raids by thieving tramps.
Possibly that may have been one reason why Bones was so desirousof having company on this little excursion up to the farm to tryhis new gun.
"What for?" asked Frank, surprised, as he dropped out of thevehicle.
"Oh! there's no telling. This may be just a trap to stop anytravelers and make them hand over. It's been done before. I'd hateto lose my double-barrel the first thing."
He was groping under the seat for the aforesaid article at thatvery moment, as though he would feel safer with it in his hands.
But Frank laughed scornfully.
"Don't you believe it, Bones. Ten to one this is some vehicle thathas left the road and gone into the ditch. I'm only afraid I mayfind the driver badly hurt in being thrown out, that's all."
He left the buggy as he spoke, and walked hastily forward towardthe dark object that seemed to be half on the road and partlyamong the trees. "Why, it looks like an automobile," said Frankto himself, as he came closer; and five seconds later he addedpositively, "That's just what it is. I wonder what's happenednow?"
He soon knew. Upon reaching the scene he found that the car musthave suddenly swerved from the road and struck a tree, head on. Itcould not have been going at a very rapid pace at the time, foralthough some damage had been done to the hood, and one of thelamps seemed to be smashed, the machine did not appear badlydamaged.
Some one was grunting close by, and as Frank drew near he saw afigure crawling out from the bushes.
"What's happened here?" he asked, promptly.
The figure of a man started up, and as Frank struck a match he sawthat the other seemed to be decently dressed, although his clotheswere somewhat torn after his headlong flight in among the bushes.
"We had an accident," muttered the man, staring hard at him; andFrank thought with a look not unlike suspicion on his scratchedface.
"I see you had," returned Frank, at the same time noting almostunconsciously from the way the machine headed they must have beencoming away from Columbia at the time; "but you speak as if theremight be another party along with you. Did he get tossed out toowhen you hit the tree?"
"I don't know. I wasn't seeing anything just then but a millionstars. He don't seem to be in the car, does he?" ventured theother, who was rubbing himself all over as if trying to ascertainwhether any ribs, or other bones, had been broken in his roughexperience.
"Then he must be in the bushes, the same as you, though it's amiracle how he went out, being behind the steering wheel; and alsohow he missed hitting this tree. Fortunately it happens to be asmall one. Let's look and see."
As he spoke Frank lit another match and started to examine thebushes alongside the stranded car and beyond. By the time he hadused three matches success rewarded his efforts, for they foundthe man.
"He's dead!" exclaimed the stranger, in horrified tones.
"Oh! perhaps not. He may only have fainted from the shock," andlying down, the boy put his head down close to the chest of themotionless man.
"His heart is beating and that proves he is alive. Take hold hereand we'll carry him to the car. Perhaps he'll come to his senseswhen I dash a little water in his face. Lift his heels and I'lllook after his head," and Frank took hold of the broad shouldersas he spoke.
In this fashion they managed to move the unconscious man to theroad. He was laid down alongside the car. Meanwhile, the other twoboys had come up, Bones urging the frightened horse along with thewhip.
"What is it, Frank?" asked Ralph, jumping out.
"Been an accident; a car rammed a tree. Both passengers thrownout, and one of them is injured; Anyhow he seems to have beenknocked senseless. I'm going to get a little water in my cap andtry to bring him to," with which Frank darted to the other side ofthe road, where his quick ear caught the trickling sound of asmall stream gurgling among mossy stones.
He was back in less than a minute, and immediately startedsplashing some of the water in the face of the unconscious man.
"He's coming around," said the other man, watching theseoperations with eager eyes; and who several times looked at thethree boys as though wondering what they could be doing there onthat lonely road at such a late hour, for it was now past nineo'clock.
Frank turned aside to see whether he could not light theremaining lamp of the car, which did not appear to have beenbroken, and had possibly only gone out through the suddenconcussion, as acetyline burners often will.
He found that it was readily made to shed light again, and oncehis work here had been done it was only natural for the boy whodelighted in machinery of all kinds to take a hasty look at thecar.
"I think it might run still. Nothing vital seems to be broken,anyhow," he said aloud, as he came back to the little group.
The second man was recovering, but groaning more or less.
"He ought to be taken to your house, Bones, to let your fatherexamine him. I'm afraid he may be badly hurt," said Frank; "if youcan help him into the tonneau of the machine I'll try and see ifit will work."
"Say, can you run it?" asked the second man, eagerly.
"I know something about cars; enough to drive this one, if itisn't damaged in its working parts. I couldn't guarantee to patchit up, though. Wait and let me see."
He bent over the car, and presently gave the crank a couple ofwhirls to turn over the engine. Sure enough, there was animmediate response, and the whirring that followed announced that,strange to say, the machine had not been vitally injured in thesmashup, though badly damaged with regard to looks.
Frank backed out, and with a few deft manipulations that provedthe truth of his assertion that he could run a car, managed tohead the machine once more toward Columbia. Neither of the menseemed to notice just what he was doing. The one who had appearedto Frank first was bending down over his friend, and they wereholding a whispered conversation.
"Put him in; now Ralph," said the new chauffeur, quietly, "you andBones come along after, and leave my gun and the ducks at myhouse. I'll be home long before you get there, I reckon, unlessthis old machine takes a notion to be tricky again and dump us."
Still groaning, the man was lifted into the tonneau.
"How do you feel, sir?" asked Frank, solicitously; although, truthto tell, he could not say that he liked the looks of either of theparties, judging from what little he had seen of them by the lightof the lone lamp.
"Pretty bum, boy. The trouble is, my right arm hangs down like itmight be broken; and without it I can't handle the wheel, you see.My friend here don't know nothing about a machine, the worse luck.So I don't see but what we've just got to let you do the drivin'for us. It's nice in you proposin' it, too. Ugh! that hurts some,I tell you!"
The man accompanied his words with more or less vehementexpressions that did not raise him the slightest in the estimationof Frank. However, he was evidently in great bodily pain, and thatmight in some measure excuse his strong language.
The second traveler got in alongside his friend, as though hefeared he might be needed sooner or later, if the other started tofaint again.
"I'm going to get you to a doctor as soon as possible," remarkedFrank, as he started off.
He heard the calls of his chums and answered back. Then the carlost the slow-moving buggy on the road. Frank did not dare drivevery fast. He was not familiar with the machine; and besides,possibly it was acting freakish--at least the man declared that ithad jumped aside straight at that tree without his doing anything.On his part Frank accepted this version with a grain of allowance;for he had long since scented liquor around, and could guess thereal reason for the accident.
As he guided the car Frank could hear the two men talking behindhim. The murmur of their voices just reached him, though he coul
dnot make out anything they said.
Once the man who had come out of the mishap in better trim thanhis companion seemed to be groping around under the seats as ifsearching for something.
"It's here, all right, Jim!" Frank heard him say, in a satisfiedtone.
A minute later he was asking about the road, where it led, andwhat the intentions of the boy at the wheel were. Frank repeatedwhat he had said before, to the effect that he thought the woundedman ought to see a physician with as little delay as possible, andtherefore he was heading back to Columbia so as to take him to Dr.Shadduck.
"Who?" exclaimed the wounded man, as the name was mentioned.
"Doctor Shadduck, the father of one of my chums, who was with meduck shooting," replied Frank, thinking it strange why the manwhile apparently suffering so much should care who attended him,just so long as he could get relief speedily.
Again the two men conferred in low tones. Frank could hear thewounded one muttering again. Perhaps his arm had commenced to hurtonce more; or, it may have been something else that started himoff.
And even while Frank was wondering who these parties could beanyway, with their strange actions and apparent unwillingness toreturn to Columbia, which place they must have recently left, aheavy hand was laid on his arm, and a voice said:
"Say, look here, we don't want to go to Columbia, and what'smore, we ain't meaning to let you take us there! Just ahead is aroad that runs off from this. They told us it runs over toFayette. Perhaps you don't want to go that way, but forget allthat and turn off, because you've just _got_ to take us! Nowords now, but shove us along lively!"
Boys of Columbia High on the Gridiron : or, the Struggle for the Silver Cup Page 15