THE TEAM THAT RAN AWAY
"Oh, Dave, the gully!" cried his sister Laura. "If we go into that
we'll all be killed!"
"Please keep quiet, Laura," flung back her brother in a low, tense
voice. "These horses are scared enough as it is."
Dave was doing his best to bring the spirited grays out of their mad
gallop. But they had not been out of the stable for the best part of a
week, and this, combined with the scare from the roar of the
automobile, had so gotten on their nerves that to calm them seemed
next to impossible. On and on they flew over the packed snow of the
hard road, the sleigh bouncing from side to side as it passed over the
bumps in the highway.
Jessie was deadly pale and had all she could do to keep from shrieking
with fright. But when she heard Dave address his sister in the above
words, she shut her teeth hard, resolved to remain silent, no matter
what the cost. Ben was worried as well as scared--the more so because
he realized there was practically nothing he could do to aid Dave in
subduing the runaways. The youth on the front seat had braced both
feet on the dashboard of the sleigh, and was pulling back on the reins
with all the strength of his vigorous muscles.
Thus fully a quarter of a mile was covered--a stretch of the hill road
which fortunately was comparatively straight. But then there loomed up
ahead a sharp turn, leading down to the straight road through the
valley below.
"Dave--the turn!" gasped Ben, unable to keep himself from speaking.
"I see it. I'll do what I can," cried the young driver; and then
pulled on the reins more strongly, if possible, than before.
Closer and closer to the dreaded turn in the road the sleigh
approached, and as it drew nearer the girls huddled in their seats
almost too terror-stricken to move. Ben sprang up, totally unconscious
of doing so.
"Can you make it, Dave, do you think?" gasped the real estate man's
son, when the turn was less than a hundred feet away.
"I don't think I'll try," was the unexpected answer. "Hold fast,
everybody! We're going through the fence!"
The turn in the road led to the left, and as they approached it Dave
relaxed his hold on the left rein and pulled with might and main on
the right. This brought the team around just a trifle, but it was
enough to keep them from attempting to follow the road--something
which would undoubtedly have caused the slewing around of the sleigh
and probably its overturning. As it was, the team left the roadway,
and the next instant had crashed through a frail rail-fence and was
floundering along in the deep snow of a ploughed-up and sloping field
beyond.
"Whoa there!" cried Dave, soothingly. "Whoa, Jerry! Whoa, Bill!" And
thus he continued to talk to the team while the sleigh bumped along
through the deep snow and over the uneven ground.
Running away on the smooth surface of the highway had been one thing;
keeping up such a gait over a ploughed field and in snow almost a foot
deep was quite another. Soon the fiery grays broke from their mad
gallop into a trot, and a minute later Dave had no trouble in bringing
them to a halt. There they stood in the snow and the furrows of the
field, snorting, and emitting clouds of steam from their nostrils.
"Hold 'em, Dave, while I get out and go to their heads!" cried Ben,
and an instant later was out in the snow and had hold of the steeds.
Each of the horses was trembling a little, but the run seemed to have
done neither of them any harm.
"Oh, Dave! Dave!" gasped Jessie. She tried to go on, but could not.
"Oh, how thankful I am that you did not attempt to go around that
corner!" came from Laura. "If you had tried that we would have been
upset and maybe all killed!" and she shuddered.
"It was just the right thing to do, Dave," was Ben's comment. "But I
don't know that I would have thought of it. You are a quick thinker,
and I guess we have you to thank for saving our lives."
"Well, we've broken down somebody's fence," returned Dave, not knowing
what else to say. "We'll have to fix that, I suppose."
"Huh! What's a broken fence to saving one's neck!" snorted Ben.
"Besides, we only busted a couple of rails, and they are not worth a
great deal."
"Dave, do you think it will be safe to ride behind that team any
more?" questioned Laura.
"I'm going to do it," he answered promptly. "No team of horses is
going to get the better of me!"
"I think, now that they have had this run, they'll tame down a
little," said Ben. "Besides that, the rest of the road to Coburntown
is almost straight and flat."
"Yes, and as soon as we get on a straight road I'll give them all the
running they want," answered Dave. "I'll guarantee that by the time
we reach town they'll be just as meek as any one would want them."
With Ben still at their heads the team was turned around and led to
the roadway once more. There the horses were tied to a tree near by,
and then Dave and Ben spent a little time in repairing the damage done
to the fence.
"I wish we could find out who those fellows in the auto were," said
Ben, when they were once again on the way. "They ought to be fined for
speeding."
"I doubt if we'll be able to locate them," answered Dave. And he was
right--they never saw or heard of the reckless automobilists again.
As has been mentioned, beyond the hill the road to Coburntown was
almost straight and level. And here for over two miles Dave allowed
the grays to go along at a good gait, although keeping his eyes on
them continually, so that they might not get beyond control. As a
consequence of this additional burst of speed, when they came in sight
of the town for which they were bound, the grays were quite docile and
willing to behave themselves properly.
"Now if you say so, I'll take you girls around to the French Shop,"
suggested Dave, "and then Ben and I can drive around to Mr. Wecks's
shoe-store."
This was agreeable to Laura and Jessie, and in a few minutes the
girls were left at the door of the establishment where Laura had said
she wished to match some ribbon. Then the two boys started for the
shoe-dealer's shop. Dave had already acquainted Ben with the
particulars of his errand to the place.
"What are you going to do if Wecks says you really had the shoes?"
questioned the son of the real estate dealer, when they were on the
way to the shoe store.
"But how can he say that when I haven't been near the place, Ben?"
returned Dave.
"I don't know. But I do know that people have sometimes had things
charged to them at the stores which other people got."
"Humph! Well, I sha'n't pay for any shoes that I did not get,"
answered our hero, simply.
Mr. Wecks's establishment was at the far end of the main street of
Coburntown; so the lads had half a dozen blocks to cover before they
reached the place.
"Hello, it's closed!" exclaimed Ben, as they came in sight of the
store; and he nodded in the direction of the show window, the curtain
of which was drawn down. The curtain on the door was also down, and on
the glass was pasted a sheet of note paper.
"Some sort of notice. I'll see what it is," answered Dave, and,
throwing the reins to Ben, he left the sleigh. Soon he was reading
what was written on the sheet of paper:
_Closed on account of death in the family._
WILLIAM WECKS.
"Somebody dead. That's too bad!" mused Dave. "I wonder who it can be?"
and then he passed into a barber shop next door to find out.
"It's Mr. Wecks's father--a very old man who lived back in the country
from here," explained the barber. "Mr. Wecks went up there last night,
and he doesn't expect to come back until after the funeral, which will
probably be day after to-morrow."
"I don't suppose his clerk is around?" questioned Dave.
"No. The funeral gave him a holiday, and he was glad of it. He's out
of town, too;" and having thus expressed himself, the barber turned to
wait upon a customer who had just come in, and Dave returned to the
sleigh.
"If that's the case, you'll have to let the matter rest until the next
time you come to Coburntown, or else you'll have to write to Mr.
Wecks," said Ben.
"I'll be coming over again before very long," answered Dave. "But,
just the same, I'd like to have this matter settled."
While Dave was speaking to his chum a man passed him on the sidewalk,
looking at him rather fixedly. This man was Mr. Asa Dickley, the
proprietor of the largest gentlemen's furnishing establishment of
which Coburntown boasted. Our hero knew the man fairly well, having
purchased a number of things at his place from time to time, and so he
nodded pleasantly. Mr. Asa Dickley nodded in return, but with a rather
sour expression on his face. Then he glanced at Ben, and at the
handsome sleigh and still more stylish team of horses, and passed on
muttering something to himself.
"Mr. Dickley didn't look very happy," was Dave's comment, as he and
Ben entered the sleigh.
"I don't think he likes my father very much," answered the son of the
real estate dealer. "He wanted to get a piece of property here very
cheap, and my father found another customer for the place at five
hundred dollars more."
"I see, Ben. Just the same, why should he give me such a hard look? Of
course, I haven't been in his place of business for a good while. But
he can't expect me to buy all my furnishing goods from him."
"Well, you know how it is, Dave--when you buy some things from some
storekeepers they think they are entitled to your whole trade.
However, I shouldn't let the matter worry me."
"Not much! I've got other things to think about. Don't forget that I
expect next month to take that examination in civil engineering.
That's what is on my mind just now."
"Oh, you'll pass, don't worry, Dave. Just think of what a brilliant
showing you made at Oak Hall."
"True. But my studies in civil engineering have been a good deal
harder than anything I tackled at school. If it wasn't for Mr.
Ramsdell, the old civil engineer who is coaching Roger and me, I don't
know how I would possibly have gotten along."
"If you pass the examination, what will you do next?"
"Roger and I will go out on some constructive work and thus get a
taste of real engineering. Mr. Ramsdell thinks he can get us positions
with the Mentor Construction Company of Philadelphia, who are now
doing a good deal of work in Texas--laying out railroads and building
bridges."
"In Texas? Say! that's quite a distance from here."
"So it is, Ben. But it is not as far as I expect to get some day. If I
ever make anything of civil engineering I hope some day to be able to
do some great work in other parts of the world--maybe in Mexico or
South America."
"Say, that will be great!" cried Ben, enthusiastically. "You'll have
a fine chance to see the world. You must take after your uncle, Dave.
He was always a great fellow to travel. Think of how you located him
years ago away down on that island in the South Seas!"
"It sure was a great trip! And some day I'd like to take it over
again. But just now I've got to put in all my time on this civil
engineering proposition. I think I'll be lucky if I pass and get that
chance to go to Texas."