CHAPTER XIII. REPENTANT BUMPUS.
There was no mystery attached to it all, and Thad understood the wholeoccurrence as soon as he saw the car moving down the road with Bumpus init. As usually happens, meddling was meeting with its customary reward.
Bumpus, as they very well knew, had long been desirous of learning howto run a motor car. Of course his father, being at the head of theCranford bank, owned a big car, and had a chauffeur to run it; but hehad issued positive orders that under no conditions was the boy to beallowed to ever handle the steering wheel. He knew Bumpus, and hiscapacity for doing the wrong thing, and meant to take no chances ofhaving a smash-up.
Boys are human. What is denied them they most of all yearn to possess.Perhaps had Bumpus never been restrained from trying to run a car, hisfirst little accident would have ended his vaulting ambition. As it was,this desire fed on the fact that it was a forbidden luxury for him.
When, therefore, Thad and the other two scouts were making their waytoward the spring, with the intention of satisfying their thirst, hefound himself tempted to clamber awkwardly over into the front seat, soas to sit there, and grasping the steering wheel try to imagine himselfa bold chauffeur.
The engine was throbbing in restraint, and the trembling motion of thecar gave Bumpus an additional opportunity to believe himself IT.
How he ever came to do it no one ever knew. Bumpus himself was sostartled when he felt the car give a sudden leap forward that his witsalmost left him. He always stoutly maintained that, so far as he couldremember, he had done nothing at all to influence the start, but ofcourse this was a mistake, for cars do not run away without some help.
Bumpus still gripped that wheel in a frenzied clutch. He stared hard atthe road ahead, which to his excited fancy seemed to consist of a zigzagcourse as crooked as any wriggling snake he had ever watched.
At one second it seemed as though he were headed for the gully on theright, and no sooner had he wildly given the wheel a turn than the car,in sheer ugliness, Bumpus thought, started for the other side of theroad.
The ditch there did not look a bit more tempting to the greenhornchauffeur, and so he would strive to avoid being overturned by acontrary whirl of the wheel.
There he was going along at a rapid pace, with the crazy car making themost eccentric dives and plunges imaginable.
"After him!" shouted Thad.
He feared for the car, but most of all he felt great concern for Bumpushimself. With all his faults, the fat boy was a general favorite amonghis comrades of the Cranford Troop. In fact, everybody liked him onaccount of his sunny nature, his happy-go-lucky disposition, and hisgenial, child-like and bland smile.
Hardly had Thad given this shout than all of them were on the go. Theydid not attempt to return to the road over the same course taken inreaching the wayside spring, but started along a diagonal line. This wasto overcome the lead which the runaway car had already obtained.
Thad shouted out directions which if heard and understood by Bumpuswould have allowed him to bring the car to a sudden stop. Perhaps in hisexcitement the boy who clutched the steering wheel could not make heador tail of what Thad was calling. Then again it may have been the rattleof the cranky old car prevented him from catching the tenor of thedirections.
In fact, as Bumpus afterwards frankly confessed, it would have madelittle difference whether he heard and understood the order or not. Heonly had two hands, and they were both needed every second of the timeto keep that wheel moving, and thus prevent an accident.
The three scouts found many obstacles in their way from the spring tothe road. They climbed fences with a surprising agility, and mounted awall as though they were hounds coursing after a hare.
The long-legged Giraffe proved himself to be a trifle better than eitherof the others at this sort of thing, and consequently he came upon theroad first. When Thad and Allan arrived he was some little distancealong, running like a deer, and utterly regardless of the clouds of dustcreated by the eccentric motions of the reckless runaway car.
Thad was used to judging distances, and after making a rapid mentalcalculation he decided that, barring some accident, Giraffe was sure toovertake the car before many minutes had passed.
He only hoped they would come to no abrupt bend in the road, where theinexperienced chauffeur would lose what little command he now possessedover his refractory vehicle.
Of course, Thad did not attempt to voice his opinion. He needed everyatom of breath he could get in order to keep up that burst of speed;and, besides, in that choking dust it would have been folly to haveopened his mouth.
The car was doing as well as at any time since it came into theirpossession. Perhaps it meant to show them that even a car may havefeelings, and resent constant slurs. Only for that zigzag motion, whichconsumed more or less time, Giraffe might have found it a much moredifficult thing to catch up with the runaway.
More than once it seemed to Thad that his heart was trying to crowd upinto his throat and choke him. This came about whenever he saw Bumpusmake a more desperate lunge than usual and come within an ace of landingin the ditch, the car wrecked, and his own neck placed in extreme perilof being broken.
As Giraffe afterwards privately said, "There seems to be an especiallittle cherub aloft given the task of protecting children and fools";and, if this were true, the angelic being had Bumpus in charge on thatwild run.
Now Giraffe by dint of a spurt was close behind the car. Thad stillchasing after, with Allan close beside him, waited in suspense to seehow the tall comrade would manage. He knew just how he would act undersimilar conditions, and had enough faith in Giraffe to believe he coulddo at least as well.
They saw him lay hands on the rear of the car. Then he seemed to make amighty effort, and the next thing they knew he was clambering,scrambling, getting aboard any way at all, so that he accomplished hisaim.
No doubt he was also holding his peace so that poor, clumsy Bumpus mightnot be still further "rattled" with the knowledge that help had arrivedin his sore extremity.
Then all at once Giraffe was seen to bend over and clutch the steeringwheel. It was heartening to notice how quickly the car stopped thaterratic wabbling, and settled down to doing a fairly straight run.
No doubt Giraffe was not telling Bumpus just what he must do with hisfreed hands, for they saw the fat boy lean over, while the car began torun slower and slower until it came to a dead stop.
Then for the first time did Thad allow himself to say a word. The relieffrom all that suspense was so great that he had to give expression tohis satisfaction, which he did by gasping:
"Thank goodness, he did it--bully for Giraffe!"
"It sometimes pays to have _extra_ long legs!" was the characteristicremark made by Allan, as they both ran on, though at a reduced pace.
When they arrived at the now motionless car they found an extremelyrepentant Bumpus awaiting them.
"Don't ask me how it happened, Thad," he said sadly, "because I don'tknow. I was sitting there, turning the wheel this way and that, andtrying to imagine how it felt to be a real chauffeur, when all at onceshe gave a snort and a kick, just like an army mule that feels the lash,and commenced to start whizzing along the road. Oh! look at me, soakingwet with perspiration. Whew! I've had a lesson I won't forget in ahurry. You don't catch me fooling with a buzz saw again in a hurry, Ipromise you."
With such a contrite culprit owning up to his faults what could Thadsay? To scold Bumpus seemed almost cruel, and besides, Thad was feelingtoo well pleased over the successful outcome of the adventure to hurtthe poor fellow's feelings any more than was absolutely necessary.
Giraffe was not quite so tenderhearted, though feeling flushed withsatisfaction over his recent victory.
"Guess you know now why your dad wouldn't let you learn to run your bigtouring car at home, don't you, Bumpus?" he jeered.
"I'm beginning to think he knew a heap better than I did about it,"admitted the hu
mble Bumpus.
"It takes brains to run a car," asserted Giraffe meaningly. "Some peoplenever should try it, because they get rattled at the least little thingout of the ordinary, and go all to pieces."
Bumpus heaved a great sigh; then one of his old-time smiles crept overhis face, now white no longer on account of alarm.
"Well, I'm mighty glad I didn't quite do that, Giraffe, by bringing upin the ditch, you know," he started to say. "Gimme a little credit forescaping smashing things to splinters. And, Giraffe, I want to say thatI'm ever so much obliged to you for doing what you did. It was a nobledeed, and there are few fellows who could have carried it out half aswell as you."
After that splendid compliment, of course there was no use of Giraffefeeling hard toward the one who had just given them all such a scare. Hesmiled back at Bumpus, and the subject was dropped, so far as findingfault or laying down the law went.
"What shall we do now, Thad?" asked Allan.
"We might go back again to where we were," suggested the other, with acurious look toward Bumpus, which the other noticed, and understood.
"What for, Thad?" he demanded. "If you're meaning to let me get a drink,I refuse to allow it. I'm going dry, to make up in part for what I did.Serves me right, and I'll get it rubbed in all the time I'm being halfchoked by the dust."
Thad saw he meant it, too, and knew that Bumpus could be very stubbornwhen he wanted to. Besides, perhaps it would be just as well for him topunish himself in this way, since the more he suffered the lesslikelihood there was of the incident being repeated.
"Just as you say, Bumpus," he remarked, as he climbed into the caragain; "we'll keep our eyes on the watch for a chance to stop at one ofthese cottages where they have a well in the yard, and you can get adrink there."
"Thank you, Thad; it's a lot more than I deserve," said Bumpus; "but Itell you I had the surprise of my life when she gave that snort, andstarted to run away with me. I'm shivering yet with the excitement; justfeel my hand, will you, Giraffe?"
Another start was made, everybody feeling satisfied that there had beenno serious outcome of the adventure. To have had the car put out of therunning would have caused them considerable distress; but they mighthave even forgiven that if only their jolly chum came through theaccident unscathed.
It was really Thad himself who discovered a wayside cottage, with a wellin the yard. Possibly Bumpus, bent on severe atonement, would never havecalled their attention to the same if he had been the only one toglimpse it.
He even began to demur when Thad said they would stop and ask for adrink; but Giraffe told him not to be foolish.
"Think we want you to get choking pretty soon, and scare us half todeath?" he told the fat boy severely; but then Bumpus knew very wellthis was all assumed, and that Giraffe really wanted him to assuage hisraging thirst.
So they came to a stop, and when a woman accompanied by several childrencame out of the cottage, Thad managed by signs to ask permission todrink at her well. She quickly understood what he wanted, and nodded anassent, even starting to draw a fresh bucket of water, though Thad tookthe rope from her hands, and completed the job.