CHAPTER VIII
STUBBY TELLS WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM
"Well," said Stubby, "my story isn't much to hear. You will have agood laugh over it, I suppose, though I can assure you what happenedto me was no laughing matter.
"When we left here, Mr. Noland drove straight out into the country,and you must know he is a fast and reckless driver. I nearly bouncedout of the car two or three times, for when he comes to a bad place inthe road, instead of driving slowly he puts on more power and goesthrough lickety-split. As for turns and curves, I fell over on his lapevery time he went around a corner. But the worst of it is he is veryimpatient if there is anything in the road that he can't pass. And itseemed to me I never saw so many pigs, chickens and slow-going farmwagons before. He would toot his horn, and the old farmers would notpay the slightest attention or give him one bit of the road, but justkeep right on in the middle and jog along, giving us their dust. Mr.Noland would drive up close to their wagons and toot his horn until hewould nearly break it. Then he would try to pass and nearly upset hismachine in the deep ditches that bordered the road. But he always madeit on two wheels, if not on four, and as he passed he would call outall sorts of things to the stupid old drivers. His favoriteexpressions were, 'Say, do you think you own the road?' and 'If youwant to sleep, you better drive your old hayrack and rattling oldbones to the side of the road,' or 'Now take a little of _my_ dust andsee how _you_ like it!' And all the time he was growing madder andmadder.
"Consequently when we came to some cows with one of them lyingstraight across the road and several others blocking the way as theystood about, I hopped out to drive them out of the way. But an old cowwith a calf instead of running away from me as I supposed she woulddo, took after me and I was so busy dodging her that I did not noticeanother cow until I ran right into her. And she quickly lowered herhead and hooked me out of the road and over the fence.
It was Stubby's and Button's frantic efforts to escape that had caused all the fun and laughter. (Page 62)]
"Now in this field was a flock of sheep quietly sleeping in theshade of a tree, an old ram with immense horns watching over them. Ilanded in the midst of the flock, which woke them up in a hurry andthey jumped up and ran off, frightened almost to pieces at a strangedog falling in their midst. And the stupid things, instead of waitingto see if I was going to hurt them or not, all jumped up and ranbaaing in all directions. This probably made the old ram, theirleader, disgusted at them for being so foolish as to be afraid of sosmall a dog as I, and equally angry to think they had no moreconfidence in his ability to protect them from harm. And as they hadall run off, so he could not vent his spite on them, he took it out onme and as I was looking for a place to crawl through the barbed wirefence he came up behind me and kindly butted me over.
"I must have made a funny picture hunting for a place to get throughthe fence, all unconscious of the old ram coming toward me and thenbeing lifted over by a big butt. Anyway, when I landed in the middleof the road, I heard Mr. Noland laughing as if he would split hissides. And he called out, 'Excuse me for laughing at you, my littlestubby-tailed dog, but I never saw anything so funny in my life! Hopeyou are not hurt, for I should hate to have you hurt when you weretrying to do a favor for me. If another contrary old cow gets in theroad, I'll run into her and boost her off the road myself.' Which hedid later on, and this is what happened.
"He ran his car right into a cow in such a way that she sat on thebumper of the machine and he pushed her over on the bank. She slippedand fell back on the car and broke off one of the lamps. My, but hewas mad! He threw stones at her and made me chase her for half a mile,calling out to me to bite her leg, bite her leg! This I did two orthree times, but I only snipped her a little as I did not care to takeany chances of being kicked sky high after having been butted twice inquick succession. My sides were still aching from the imprint of thecow's and the ram's horns.
"When we were again on the road and going along nicely, Mr. Nolandsaid, 'Stubby, this seems to be a disastrous drive for us thismorning, doesn't it?' He had scarcely gotten the words out of hismouth when bang! went a tire. Well, I would not like to repeat what hesaid. Now if there is anything he dislikes to do it is to put on atire or fuss with the car in any way. He always manages to have eitherhis son or the hired man do it. But here he was thirty-five miles fromhome on a road where few people passed.
"'I bet I haven't any inner tube to put in!' he muttered to himself,'and even if I have, it is a mean job to fix it. I would run on therim but if I do my whole wheel will be ruined. If I wait for some oneto come and help me, I may wait until doomsday as this is a side roadand little traveled.'
"He took off his hat, scratched his head and thought a minute. Then heclimbed the fence at the side of the road and waved to a farmer he sawplowing in a field half a mile away. After many attempts he succeededin attracting the farmer's attention, and he left his horses and cametoward us. When he was within speaking distance, Mr. Noland calledout, 'Mornin', Hiram! I am sorry to bother you, but I am in trouble. Ihave a busted inner tube and I can't fix it myself. Could you come andhelp me? The two of us can do it in a short time but it is aneverlasting job for one to tackle. If you will help me, I'll give youa peck of that Golden Bantam seed corn you like so much the next timeyou are in town.'
"This corn was something Hiram had long coveted, as Mr. Noland'sGolden Bantam corn is the envy of all the farmers as it is extra finefor table use. So Hiram jumped over the fence in a jiffy and the twoset to work with a will. In twenty minutes the wheel was fixed and wewere on our way.
"'That delay will make us reach our destination about dinner time, sowe will have to ask them to keep us. I am right glad as FarmerGreenbush's wife is noted for her guinea pot pies, and perhaps if Ihint around and flatter her, she _might_ make one for our dinner. I'lljust speed up a little until we get to the big Molkie Hill after whichwe can't make much time as the road is bad,' said Mr. Noland.
"For the next fifteen minutes we drove as fast as the little Fordwould take us. Soon we were at the foot of the celebrated Molkie Hill.It is known far and wide as being the steepest and the most difficulthill for autos to climb for miles and miles around.
"'I'll just take it on a run,' said Mr. Noland to himself, and he puton full speed and we mounted to within a few feet of the top, when hisengine stopped short and before he could put on his brakes we wererunning backwards down that hill at a terrific speed. When he did puton the brakes we were going so fast they did no good. Instead of himpaying attention to his steering and keeping us in the middle of theroad, he turned his head to see where he was going. I guess he losthis head and turned the steering wheel the wrong way, for we shot toone side of the road, hit the corner of the bridge at the bottom ofthe hill and turned upside down in the water. We knocked the top off,but otherwise we did not injure the car in the least."
"What became of you when the car turned over?" asked Button.
"I fell out as it went over and the current of the stream carried mefrom under it so I was not hurt. And Mr. Noland escaped too as thecar caught in such a way on some rocks that it kept the body of thecar from crushing him. As I swam out of the stream on the other sideof the bridge, I saw him crawling out from under the wreck."
"Well, I should say you had had a very exciting morning," said Billy."And how did you get home at last? I bet you lost your guinea pot piethough!"
"After Mr. Noland wiped some of the mud and dirt off himself, he saton the bank a long time and did not say a word. I was beginning to getworried and was afraid he was hurt when he pulled out a memorandumbook from his pocket and began to write in it. Presently he tore out aleaf and called me to come to him.
"'Come here, little dog. I want you to do something for me. I know youwill if I can only make you understand what I want. Understand, only avery smart dog could do what I am going to ask you to do. Here is anote I want you to take to the store that is a mile from here over thetop of this hill. You carry it in your mouth--or no, I'll tie itaround your
neck in my handkerchief. You take it to the storekeeperand bark. Then pull at the handkerchief with your teeth. He will thinkit is choking you and when he unloosens it he will find my note. Afterreading it he will hustle around and come to my rescue, bringing youback with him.'
"'Well, of all clever stunts to think of, this beats them all,' Ithought.
"He placed the note carefully in the handkerchief and tied it aroundmy neck. When it was fixed all right, I took a drink of water andstarted up the hill, while he called after me, 'Good luck, little dog;good luck!'
"In less than half an hour I was at the store, as it was easy to find.As I ran into the store, I found five or six big farmers loafing aboutor buying groceries or getting their mail. It was not hard todistinguish the storekeeper, as he was the only man without a hat and,besides, he stood behind the counter.
"Gee! It did smell good behind the counter for I was hungry and therewere boxes of gingersnaps, crackers, Bologna sausage and all sorts ofgood things there. But I paid no attention to them as I wished todeliver my message. The storekeeper was a big, good-natured man, andhe nearly stepped on me. In fact, he _did_ nip my toe and I barkedwith the pain. This made him first look down and notice me.
"'Heigho! Here is a stray dog. I am sorry I stepped on you, but don'tyou know that customers are not allowed behind the counter?'
"Right here I rolled over on my back and began pulling the end of thehandkerchief.
"'Mercy on us! The poor dog is going to have a fit! That handkerchiefmust be tied too tight. I'll just untie it. I wonder to whom hebelongs? I thought I knew every dog for miles around.'
"He stooped down, and then, 'Bless my soul, there is something tied upin this handkerchief! I wonder what it can be?'
"When he found the note and had read it he called to the men in thestore and read it to them.
"'Who brought the note?' asked one man.
"'No _person_ brought it. This little dog carried it folded up in thishandkerchief that was tied around his neck.' And he lifted me to thecounter so all could see me.
"'Who but Noland would have thought of sending word in that way?'laughed another of the men.
"'Let's get a move on and all go to his rescue,' proposed a third.
"This they agreed to do, and soon five farmers were jogging along,ropes, pulleys and chains in the bottom of their wagons to help haulthe wrecked car out of the stream.
"I was just about to jump off the counter and follow them when thestorekeeper called out: 'Here, little dog, you must be hungry. Stopand eat a bite before you go back. You can easily overtake them.'
"He gave me a big lunch of sausage and a handful of crackers withbutter on them, and three or four gingersnaps. I can tell you Iblessed that good-hearted man for giving food to me. So few peopleever seem to think that animals get hungry and thirsty, or they givethem just a little piece of cake--not enough to stay the hunger of atiny mouse. I licked up every crumb and wished as I did so that I hada pocket in my side so I could take Mr. Noland something to eat.
"'Say, little dog, do you suppose you could carry a sandwich or twoback if I tied them on your back instead of around you neck? Theywould be too heavy to tie around your neck,' said the storekeeper.
"I barked and shook my head yes.
"'Well, I declare I believe this dog can almost talk, as well asunderstand all that is said to him!'
"Then he made two big sandwiches, one of Swiss cheese and the other ofBologna sausage, wrapped them in paper and tied them on my back withstring and the handkerchief in which I had brought the note. Then heset a pan of nice cool water on the counter for me to drink. Afterthis he put me on the floor by the door, where he stood watching meuntil I was out of sight.
"I can tell you Mr. Noland appreciated those sandwiches as much as Idid the luncheon he had given to me. And he said to the farmers whowere helping him, 'There is a good-hearted man and from now on I shallbuy all I can at his store. He deserves to be helped.' To which allthe farmers agreed and one and all said they traded with himaltogether as they had found he never cheated on his weights or gaveshort measure.
"With the help of the farmers, the auto was soon up on the road andhitched to the back of one of the farm wagons that was going our way.Mr. Noland and I were in another wagon that was going the same way.
"In this manner we reached home just before dark. I tell you what;give me an auto in preference to a horse! My back fairly ached fromtrying to push those slow horses and it took hours to go over the roadwe had traveled in minutes by automobile.
"I am pretty tired, so I guess I will bid you both good-by and go tobed. Au revoir until to-morrow!"
"Not so fast!" said Button. "I am tired too, so I will turn in whenyou do."
"I am not feeling any too spry myself," said Billy. "So if you two aregoing to bed, I will also."
And presently the three Chums were fast asleep under the trees, livingover again in dreams their experiences of the day.