Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels Part 15

Next, the fellow with the cap jumped down in a big hurry and looked back along the road, better than he could do in the car. He seemed awful kind of scared and excited. He came over toward us, walking kind of sideways, you know, tough.

He said, "What's the matter here? Why don't they move this car? Yez are blockin' up the road, yez are. Where's the en-jine?"

I wasn't scared of him. I said, "The en-jine is having a nap. Don't talk so loud or you'll wake it up."

"Yez are a pretty fresh lot, ain't yez?" he said. "Where's the men belongin' ter this she-bang, anyway? Yez is blockin' traffic." Then he looked up the road again and said to the other fellow: "Don't see nuthin' of 'em, do yer? Keep your eyes peeled." He seemed awful nervous and in a hurry.

Just then I noticed Westy get up and step down off the car. "Get them inside if you can," Westy whispered as he pa.s.sed me.

I didn't know for the life of me what he meant. But there's something about Westy, he's awful kind of thoughtful. Maybe you've read how a scout is supposed to be observant. Well, that's Westy all over.

CHAPTER XIX

WESTY

I said to the fellow, "The railroad hasn't got anything to do with this car; it belongs to us. And you can bet we weren't thinking about where it stopped, either. It's better to be here than in the lake."

He just shouted to the other fellow, "Come here, hurry up!" Then he craned his neck and looked back along the road. The other fellow got down from the auto in a hurry and came to the car, looking behind him all the while.

One thing, I could see that those fellows were scared and in a terrible hurry, and I decided that probably they had stolen the machine. I thought that, not only because they were always looking back, because they might have expected to be chased just for speeding, but because they were so tough looking. Anyway, they were pretty low-grade fellows to be in such a high-grade car, that was one sure thing. Besides, I knew that the fellow that was running that car wasn't the regular chauffeur, because the regular chauffeur of a car always kind of slides out very easy without rubbing against the steering gear. One thing sure, you can always tell if a man is used to running a car, especially some particular car.

Both fellows were on the platform now, and the one that came first said, "What yez doin' here; blockin' the road?"

I guess I shouldn't have told them anything, but I said, "We rolled down from near the store up there and it was lucky we managed to stop right here, or we'd have been in the lake. It's no easy job managing those brakes."

"No?" he said, kind of funny, and then looked at the other fellow.

Then they both went inside and I could see one of them looked out of the window up the road, while the other threw his cap on the floor and put on Connie's scout hat that was hanging in the car. He whispered to the other fellow and then the other fellow turned around and grabbed Wig's hat off his head and put it on his own head.

"Run her down, that's the only thing," one of them said; "and blamed quick about it, too. You kids git off'er this car if you don't want to be drowned."

I saw what they were going to do. They went out on the other platform and kicked the ratchet out and let the wheel spin. But the car didn't move. Then they came through to do the same thing to the other one. They were going to start the car and jump off. I knew it would start right away, because the grade was so steep. I stood right there in the aisle, blocking their way and I said:

"This car belongs to us and you're not going to run it into the lake.

Maybe you heard of Mr. John Temple; he gave it to us. If you start it, you won't be able to stop it. Maybe it's worth more than that auto for all you know. Anyway, it is to us, and you're not going to run it into the lake--you're not."

He just swore and hit me in the face and I went staggering against one of the seats. Everything went all whizzing around and for a couple of seconds my head buzzed so that I couldn't stand up straight. But even still I wasn't scared of him and I followed them and the other fellows out onto the other platform.

"Git off the car, all of yez," I heard one of them say.

My head was buzzing and I felt awful cold and queer like, but I had sense enough to notice Westy sitting there on the railing of the platform, dangling his legs. I guess he must have been waiting there. As long as I live, I'll never forget how calm and quiet he was, and not scared of them at all. I was so dizzy from the crack on the head that fellow gave me, that I had to hold on to the railing and Westy looked as if he were shaking as he sat on it. But it was only because I was dizzy.

I saw the two fellows grab the wheel and Connie and Pee-wee and Wig jump off the car. But Westy didn't move, only sat there swinging his legs and kind of smiling at those two.

"You're a couple of big cowards, that's what you are," he said; "to hit a fellow his size. And you're a couple of crazy fools, too. That's what you are; a couple of low down fools and cowards--and thieves."

For just a second they let go the wheel and stared at him, but he didn't move; just sat there watching them and swinging his legs.

"And what's the use of going to all that trouble?" Westy said. "You'll only make it worse for yourselves. Do you think that boy scouts are fools, just because you can hit one of them on the head and knock him out of your way? I've got two good snapshots of both of you and I hid the camera, and if you choked me, I wouldn't tell you where it is. See?

That old Pierce-Arrow is here because it's here. See? And it's going to stay here, too. I just threw your spark plugs into the lake. If you hadn't been a couple of big fools you wouldn't have stepped inside this car. _Steal a Pierce-Arrow!_ You make me laugh. You couldn't even get away with a Ford."

CHAPTER XX

TAKING IT EASY

And he just sat there, swinging his legs and laughing. It was as good as a circus to see him.

"Go ahead, run," he said; "it won't do you any good. Sink this car in the lake if you want to. That'll just mean a longer time in jail. We should worry. You thought a boy scout didn't know how to hit back, didn't you? Let's see you start the machine. You're a couple of circus clowns, that's what you are. You ought to be a pair of villains in the movies. Head hurt much, Roy?"

"Not so bad now," I told him.

Gee whiz, those fellows didn't wait long. Before Westy was finished speaking they were off the car and headed into the woods. That was the last we saw of them, then.

"Did you ever hear of a thief stopping to have his picture taken?" Westy asked.

"If they'd have only stayed a little longer, we could have got them in the movie camera and we could have a play called _The Robbers'

Regret_," Pee-wee piped up, "or, _The Missing Spark Plugs_."

"Oh, they're not missing," Westy said; "they're just hiding, disguised as an oil can. Waste not, want not, hey?"

Do you know what fellow had done--all while we were in the car? Talk about a scout being quick! He had got the snapshots while those two fellows were on the platform. Then he had hid the camera in the bushes.

But he wanted to make sure that they wouldn't find the plugs, so he put them into an oil can that he had found under the hood of the machine and tied a piece of wire to the can. He tied the other end of the wire to the root of a bush on the sh.o.r.e. And all that he did while the fellows were in the car. What do you know about that?

So now he just fished them up and cleaned them out and put them back where they belonged. Then we all sat in the Pierce-Arrow waiting to see what would happen next. Right in front of us was that old car with the sign all along its side.

Buffalo 398 Mls.--BREWSTER'S CENTER--N. Y. 30 Mls.

Pretty soon we got to singing, and for a little while everybody was singing something different from everybody else, but after a few minutes we got settled down to this:

"There was the Brewster's Centre car, That traveled here and there; It had a lot of adventures, too, And we don't have to pay any fare.

And when it's here, it's here, And when it's there, it's there; And when it isn't any place, Why then it's everywhere.

And if it isn't on the ground, You'll find it up in the air; And if it goes to the moon or Mars, A plaguey lot we care!"

"You can talk about tents and log cabins and house-boats and things,"

Connie said; "but I'm for that old car. It's stood by _us_."

"Stood!" I said. "Good night, it hasn't stood very long anywhere; not since we had it."

"It's full of pep," Connie said.

"Always on the go," I told him; "it's different from other cars. It reminds me of Pee-wee. I wonder where we'll go next."