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."