AT THE CLARION RACING CAMP
The arrival of the Chosen Trio in Queensville did not occasion the
excitement in that small city that at least Mr. Gaines had anticipated.
Possibly there would have been a more noticeable interest had it not
been that strangers and strange cars had already become, on account of
the numbers present for the races, a drug on the market. Queensville
people had grown quickly accustomed to the presence of visitors. Beyond
a passing glance the lumbering Roadster and its passengers received
little notice, therefore.
Soapy had counted so much upon the demonstration of lively interest the
arrival of himself, his car and Pickton and Perth--whom he regarded as
a kind of body-guard--would occasion that to attract little or none of
such curious attention was a serious blow to his vanity.
The fault, Mr. Gaines in his own mind assured himself, lay in the very
ordinary appearance of his friends. He would have to let it be known, he
concluded, that he alone was the owner of the Roadster and that he, if
not those with him, was a person of quite some consequence.
It was with difficulty that Pickton and Perth prevailed upon Gaines to
do as they had originally agreed and look for quarters where they could
prepare most of their own meals and so incur no considerable expense.
This accomplished, they quite readily found a really desirable place of
the character desired. It was a vacant, one-story, white cottage.
Adjoining was a more pretentious house, the owner of both of which
dwellings was desirous of taking in what money he might while the influx
of strangers was on. For the moderate charge of five dollars for the
week he gave the Trio the use of the cottage for themselves and
permission to run their car into a shed in the rear of his own
residence.
The three lads might have been very comfortable--might have fared well
in all respects, in the situation presented, had Soapy been the least
bit favorably disposed toward "roughing it." With the gasoline camp
stove for their cooking, ample bedding, and water and similar
accommodations already in the cottage and at their disposal--why, under
the same conditions the Auto Boys, or any group of really congenial
young fellows, would have lived in a delightfully care-free way!
But Gaines did not like the bare floor and he did not like the absence
of such little conveniences as rocking chairs and electric lights. And
although Mrs. Gaston, wife of the owner of the property, and a most
pleasant, motherly old lady, sent over a mirror, a lamp, a small table
and three kitchen chairs for the accommodation of the boys, to say
nothing of a jar of canned peaches and a fresh rhubarb pie, Soapy
"hoped he wasn't an object of charity just yet awhile."
Or as Mr. Freddy Perth expressed it, he "simply turned up his long, thin
nose at the whole shooting match and acted like a beastly cad." Where
and how anything remotely similar to a "shooting match" came into the
situation may not be exactly clear. No doubt young Mr. Perth knew just
what he was talking about; but at any rate the words quoted, it should
be understood, were his own.
However, and notwithstanding Mr. Gaines' constantly expressed
dissatisfaction, Pick and Fred went ahead with the plan to make the
white cottage their headquarters for the week of the races. The location
was pleasantly convenient. Only four blocks distant was the main street
and the Crown Hotel. Here many of the racing car owners and drivers were
staying and here, also, the committee in charge of the contests had its
office.
Considerably disgusted with the failure again to find the Auto Boys and
out of sorts with himself and everyone else, Gaines went alone to the
hotel for his supper on Sunday night. Perth and Pickton enjoyed their
evening meal just as much without him, it is possible, at the cottage.
And though they attempted nothing more intricate in the culinary art
than boiling eggs, toasting bread and making coffee, they supplemented
this fare with fruit from the stand down on the corner and so managed
very well.
Soapy returned from the hotel to find the cottage uncomfortably cool and
Fred and Tom both in bed--because they were tired and because they were
warmer there. He sniffed contemptuously as he prepared to follow their
example. Growing still more sulky, he requested both his friends to bear
in mind who owned the car that brought them there. Even after he was in
bed, Gaines felt moved to declare that he didn't care where the Auto
Boys were or were not. He meant, he said, to enjoy the races.
He wanted to hear the hotel discussions, see the practice work and all
things incident to the contests. So far as he was concerned, he at last
concluded, "Worth and that bunch might run and jump off the edge of the
earth if they wanted to." Which feat, by the way, had the Auto Boys
known they had Mr. Gaines' free and complete permission to perform, they
would quite likely have been glad to undertake for his especial
accommodation, if for no other reason.
Now, although Mr. Tom Pickton was no better pleased with the temper
Gaines displayed than was Mr. Frederick Perth, the two did not
themselves become the firmer friends. Being fellow sufferers from
Soapy's disagreeable manner, it would have been quite natural that every
bond of friendship and sympathy between them should be strengthened. Yet
quite the contrary was true.
Pickton more than half believed Perth responsible for the fact that
Gaines had not invited him to supper at the hotel. Fred's somewhat
inferior clothing, and his general lack of a kind of swaggering style,
much affected by Soapy himself, made the latter ashamed to associate
with him. In this light, at least, Pickton viewed the matter. He
reasoned that Gaines went by himself because to invite one made it
necessary that he invite both the others. Thinking thus, he wished
fervently that Fred were some place else.
On the other hand, young Mr. Perth resented in his thoughts, if not in
words and actions, a certain secretive manner Pickton had shown more and
more of late. He resented still further Soapy's selfish and snobbish
conduct. So all in all, harmony and good-fellowship among the Chosen
Trio's members, never strong, never founded on the deep, mutual love and
respect that is the basis of all true friendship, was in a fair way to
disappear entirely.
Monday morning presented little change in the chilly atmosphere of the
white cottage. Soapy remained in bed until Perth called him to
breakfast--again toast, eggs and coffee. Meanwhile Pickton had brought
the Roadster around to the street in front, and after the morning
repast suggested a trip over the course. As Gaines and Fred both liked
this proposal, the feelings of all three toward one another became, for
the time, more pleasant.
Earnest, serious practice by the racing drivers began this Monday
morning and from four to ten o'clock the roads were closed against all
others. The Trio ran down in the Roadster to the banked curve just south
of Queensville to watch the work of the different cars and men. It was
at this point that the main grandstand was to be. Work on the structure,
rising in successive tiers of seats in rows hundreds of feet in length,
was now nearly completed. No charge for admission would be made before
the day of the races and from boxes for each of which, for the one big
day, the price would be fifty dollars, the three lads viewed the coming
and going of the machines and their crews.
A large, red car, stripped to the chassis, save for the hood, the low
seats and fuel tank back of them, made the most consistent record of
the morning. Repeatedly its driver covered the circuit at fifty-five
mile speed and did not exceed a minute's difference in time between one
lap and another.
This machine was the _Clarion_; Kemper, driver, and Allstop,
mechanician. It was a popular car and a favorite crew. Gossip at the
Crown Hotel was partial to Kemper and the _Clarion_ as winners in the
heavy car race.
A long, low, gray car with black lines--and known as the _Hare_, was
another of the "sure" winners, according to the forecast of those whose
wisdom was aired each day and night wherever crowds congregated in
Queensville. The identity of the _Hare's_ driver was the subject of
almost unceasing discussion. When out on the course or wherever he might
be seen, he wore invariably a head-dress that covered his face
completely. None could recognize him. On the entry list his name
appeared as "I. S. Mystery"--nothing more, and it is scarcely necessary
to add that a mystery he was. Cobert, his mechanician, was also
unknown. He wore no mask. His head-rigging left his face open to close
scrutiny; but he was silent always. He worked with Mr. "Mystery" as if
they read continuously each the thoughts of the other and had no need of
any other language.
The _Hare_, as a car, was known quite well enough. The manufacturers
were among the most prominent in America. As a factor in the heavy car
race, the machine was considered very important, as has been stated. So
much, however, depends upon the skill, experience and daring of the
driver in any such contest, that many and many a man would have given a
great deal to know who "Mystery" was, and where he and Cobert had
acquired their apparently perfect training.
Six other cars, including the Alameda, two Brights, a Henry and two
Wings completed the field for the big race. The light car contest was
but a minor affair and attracted little notice. Of the six machines just
mentioned, the Henry was looked upon as a bare possibility. The Brights
were not rated highly, though one of them, with Crane--a
long-experienced driver--as pilot, was counted upon as an interesting
"dark horse." The Wings were the product of unknown builders. One of the
wags at the Crown Hotel remarked that "the _pair_ of them might fly
_some_, but not very far at that." The Alameda was not considered at all
formidably, either, being practically unknown.
All the gossip concerning the different contestants he had heard about
the hotel Gaines repeated as being strictly first-hand intelligence, or
quite as if every word were a matter of his own personal knowledge, as
the Trio watched the Monday morning practice. Very well did Fred and
Pickton know where he had heard all he told them. That they secretly
resented his manner of superiority there can be no doubt; but their
interest in obtaining information was too lively to permit of their
failing to listen, and attentively.
By ten o'clock, all the racing cars had been taken home to their
respective stations, some in Queensville and some to headquarters
established in camps at convenient points adjacent to the course. With
the way now open to them, the Trio started in the Roadster for a trip
around the circuit, Pickton at the wheel.
"Oh, you!" called a voice from one of the tire supply pits directly in
front of the grandstand.
Perth answered, "Hello!"
"How far you going?" asked the first speaker, a brisk young man in a
suit of khaki. "Wonder if you'd just as soon take a couple of tubes over
to the Clarion camp for me?"
"Sure, Mike," said the by no means bashful Perth, though why he supposed
the name of the young man to be Michael--which, in fact, it truly was
not--is a problem. But anyhow, "Sure, Mike!" he said.
"Their camp is in a little grove just the other side of Chester. You'll
see a lane leading right back to their tent and a barn they have," the
chap in the khaki suit continued. "Give 'em these two tubes. They'll
know who sent 'em. You're the boys for me, all right!"
Gaines would have objected to taking the tubes aboard except for the
opportunity to see the Clarion headquarters. He did not like the way in
which Perth acted as spokesman. He so informed Fred a little later.
Again he requested him, also, and with some degree of earnestness, to
remember whose machine he was "banging around for the accommodation of
any Tom, Dick and Harry."
Perth smoothed matters over as best he could by saying, "Oh, Gaines,
let's be civilized!" but he held the two tire tubes in his own hands.
When the camp of the _Clarion_ was reached, he carried them personally
to the man who appeared to be in charge.
With the gentleman who received the tubes Perth found it quite easy to
become acquainted. He volunteered to assist as the stranger immediately
set about the work of inserting one of the new tubes in a tire. The
change was being made on a car kept at the camp for general purposes.
Fred's offer was accepted and he did his work right skillfully.
Gaines and Pickton looked on but gave no assistance. Later all three
were allowed to watch Kemper and Allstop making some adjustments on the
Clarion racer. A proud moment it was, too, when the famous driver nodded
to them in a friendly way.
"Much obliged for those tubes," he said, looking toward Fred. "It was
one on me that you were asked to fetch them. I intended stopping at the
tire control my last time around and forgot it."
"Don't mention it," said Perth.
It was odd, but the fact, nevertheless, that this very natural
conversation was the source of much irritation to Mr. Soapy Gaines.
"That Clarion car has no more chance," said he, when the Roadster was
again underway upon the course--"that Clarion car has no more chance of
winning than your grandmother. The thing's a heap o' junk and Kemper
couldn't drive a truck!"
"Fudge!" snorted Perth in an outburst of supreme contempt.
"Keep our eyes open and we might find Way's outfit," suggested Pickton,
anxious to prevent a clash and even more anxious, if the whole truth
were known, to locate the Auto Boys' camp.
Strangely enough Tom's proposal instantly interested Soapy very much.
Fickle and uncertain always, he now declared that, come what might, he
would find where Way and the rest were staying and what they were doing
in the locality, if it took all day.