PAT HERRON LOSES HIS TEMPER
“Well, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?” inquired Mr. Latham as they
left the office a few minutes later.
Willard smiled. “I guess it might have been if you hadn’t helped,” he
answered.
“Perhaps. Division Superintendents are pretty busy persons. Well, good
luck to you, my boy, and I hope the transportation company will get
lots of business and soon begin to declare dividends.”
Mr. Latham shook hands in front of the building and Willard, reassuring
himself by a look at the station clock, made his way to a small lunch
room and dined regally on a bowl of hulled corn afloat in milk and
frosted with sugar, two doughnuts, a piece of blueberry pie and a cup
of coffee. After that he strolled around the city for a half-hour
and finally boarded the express that took him uneventfully back to
Audelsville and deposited him on the platform at six minutes after two.
“Auto to any part of the city! Twenty-five cents to any part of the
city! Ride up, sir? Auto to―――― Hello, Will! I didn’t think you’d make
this train. Did you――Meechin’s Hotel? Yes, sir. I’ll take your bag.
Right across the road, sir.”
And Tom, casting speculative glances up and down the platform in quest
of other customers, led the way to the car, followed by Willard and the
owner of the bag, the latter viewing irresolutely Connors’ hack, into
which Pat Herron was conducting three other arrivals. But Tom gave him
no time to change his mind.
“Here you are, sir! Have you there in three minutes!” he declared,
depositing the gentleman’s bag in front and jumping into his seat.
“Turn her over, Will! All right!”
_Honk! Honk!_ The Ark was off with a noisy fusillade from the exhaust
and a shuddering grinding of gears and Tom turned anxiously to Willard.
“What luck?” he asked.
For answer Willard drew forth the letter that Mr. Cummings had dictated
and held it for Tom to read.
“Fine!” In his enthusiasm Tom pumped the horn loudly and triumphantly.
“Won’t Pat Herron be mad! Say, I’m glad you went, and not I; I’d have
made a fizzle of it, I guess.”
“So would I if Mr. Latham hadn’t happened along at just the right
moment,” replied Willard. And then, for the rest of the distance
uptown, he narrated the story of the trip. Tom became so interested
that he narrowly escaped bumping into the fender of a car as it swung
around the corner of Walnut Street, eliciting a remarkable flow of
eloquence from the motorman.
“Gee, Will, things are coming our way, aren’t they?” he asked.
“Even trolley cars,” Willard agreed, with a laugh, as The Ark drew up
in front of the hotel with an imperative squawking of the horn that
brought the porter hurrying outside.
“Well, that beats the hack,” said the passenger as he paid his quarter,
“even if I did have heart disease once or twice. Say, do you always run
as close to the trolley cars as that?”
“Not always,” laughed Tom. “That was something special, a sort of extra
thrill, sir.”
“Hm; well, I got it,” replied the man grimly as he turned to follow his
bag.
“I see you’re doing business, boys.” Mr. Meechin had strolled out from
the lobby and, with thumbs in the arm-holes of his waistcoat, was
interestedly observing the car.
“Getting more every day, sir,” responded Willard. “Thinking of putting
on another car.”
Tim Meechin grinned. “Really now! You’ll be rich before you know it.
Was there any others on the train?”
“For you? I believe Pat Herron is bringing two or three up,” answered
Tom. “They’ll be along in time for supper, sir.” And Tom, throwing in
his clutch, chugged away, leaving Mr. Meechin grinning after them. “I
got two from the hotel for the 1:57,” confided Tom proudly as they
turned into Pine Street. “They were just getting into the hack when
they saw The Ark. ‘Hey,’ said one of them, ‘what’s the matter with
taking the auto?’ Then Pat Herron tried to hustle them into his old
barouche, talking a blue streak all the time. But they wouldn’t have
it. ‘Does that car run, kid?’ one of them called over. ‘Like a breeze,’
said I. ‘Get you to the station in three minutes, sir!’ So they grabbed
their bags from Pat, although they very nearly had to fight him to get
them, and came across and got in. They made a lot of fun of the car on
the way, but I didn’t mind that; they can josh all they want to if they
give me their quarters! And, besides, when I landed them at the station
in something less than four minutes they didn’t think The Ark was so
poor, after all! I’ve made three dollars and a quarter so far to-day.
What do you think of that? And now that we can stand at the platform
we’d ought to do a heap better. After dinner we’ll go down and get the
agent to give us our stand.”
“One of them, anyway,” agreed Willard.
“One of what?”
“One of our stands. Didn’t you notice that I’d got permission for two
autos?”
“No! What for? We haven’t got two.”
“We may have some day,” responded Willard, “and I thought it might save
trouble to fix for the other one now. Look here, why shouldn’t we have
two if we make this thing go? Why shouldn’t we carry trunks as well
as people, Tom? As it is now, even if we get a passenger he has to
have Connors bring his trunk up for him. We might as well do that as
Connors. And, besides, there’s lots of money to be made hauling stuff
from the freight house to the shops. If we get ahead by the end of the
summer we could very easily buy a light truck; you can get one for
about twelve hundred.”
“Twelve hundred!” Tom stared at Willard as though he suspected his
friend of having lost his senses. “Twelve hundred! Where would we get
twelve hundred, I’d like to know!”
“Oh, we might. We wouldn’t have to pay it all at once, maybe. For that
matter, I dare say we could find a second-hand one at a bargain. I saw
dozens of them in Providence. Even if we got a very small one to start
with――――”
“You want to go right home and bathe your head,” said Tom
sympathetically. “That trip and the excitement of it were too much for
you, Will. Considering that we’ve so far made only about ten dollars
and owe a couple of hundred I guess we’d better not buy any motor
trucks just yet.”
“I didn’t say now, did I?” responded Willard untroubledly. “You wait
until we once get going right. Why, we ought to take in ten or twelve
dollars a day. That’s, say, sixty a week, and sixty a week is over two
hundred and forty a month!”
“All right. When we’re making two hundred and forty a month, Will,
we’ll talk about that motor truck. Just at present what we want to
remember is that we’ve got to pay Saunders some more money in a little
over two weeks. And we’ve got to buy gasoline this afternoon, too.
Don’t let me forget that, whatever you do!”
When Pat Herron arrived at the station that evening to meet the 6:05
train he looked like a man about to indulge in an apoplectic fit! For
there, right in front of where he had been in the habit of stopping his
hack, stood that pesky automobile!
“Get out of that now!” bawled Pat angrily. “’Tis plain I’ll have to be
after having the cop run yez in! Move on, I tell yez!”
But Tom and Willard only regarded him untroubledly for an instant,
and then went on with their conversation. Pat tossed down his reins,
leaped from the box and hurried to the side of The Ark. His helper,
who drove the surrey, was not present, since there were seldom more
passengers from the six o’clock train than could be carried in the
hack, and Pat, perhaps, felt the lack of support. At all events, he was
less truculent when he reached the car.
“What’s the good of yez makin’ trouble, byes?” he demanded. “Sure,
ye’ve been told ye couldn’t stand here. If Connors gets after yez he’ll
have yez arrested, like as not.”
“Oh, that’s all right, Pat,” answered Willard. “I ran over to
Providence this morning and saw the president of the road. We’ve got a
stand here now; in fact, two of them. After this you’ll find us between
these two posts, Pat. And later on we’ll have another car at the far
end there. So don’t you worry any more, old top.”
“Seen the president, did ye?” sputtered Pat. “Yez’ll see the police
station, that’s what yez’ll see! Wait till I get a word with Gus
Tinker!”
Off strode Pat to the agent. Willard and Tom exchanged a smile. A
minute passed and Pat was still absent. Finally he returned around the
corner of the station, scowling terrifically. “Wait till I tell Connors
on yez!” he called, shaking a huge fist in their direction. “He’ll have
yez out o’ that, begorra, before yez knows what’s happened to yez!
Comin’ here an’ takin’ the bread out of me mouth, ye thieves!”
Further remarks were drowned by the shriek of the locomotive whistle
and then by the roar of the express as it drew into the station, its
brakes rasping and grinding. Only three passengers got off, and two of
the three set off on foot. The third hesitated a moment between the
impassioned eloquence of Pat Herron on one side and the overtures of
Tom and Willard on the other. The passenger was a meek looking little
man with a suit case many sizes too large for him to which he clung in
desperation.
“It’s the hotel you’re wantin’, sir?” wheedled Pat. “Sure, I know yez
well. I took yez up the last time, sir. Step right this way and――――”
“Automobile waiting, sir! Only a quarter of a dollar, and get you there
in a wink!” declared Tom.
“Autymobul, is it!” cried Pat. “Take a look at it, sir! It’s all I’m
askin’ yez, sir; take one look at it! Would yez call that an autymobul?
Sure, ’tis all your life is worth, sir, to set foot in such a thing!
Ten accidents they’re after havin’ already with the thing, sir, and the
Lord only knows――――”
“He’s lying, sir! An automobile’s a heap safer than those horses of
his. Look at them, sir! Why, the last time they ran away――――”
“Safe and gentle they be, sir! Your own mother’s mother could drive
them, sir! Sure, pay no more heed to them blatherskites! Give me your
bag, sir, and I’ll have yez up to the hotel while we’re standin’ here
talkin――――”
“Whoa!” cried Willard suddenly. “_Whoa!_ It’s that off horse again,
Pat! Has he got his foot over the traces or what, Tom? _Whoa!_”
Pat turned in alarm and Tom made a sudden grab at the man’s suit case
and got it!
“Right this way, sir, right this way!” said Tom. “Turn her over, Will.
There’s your bag, sir. Mind the step. Thank you.”
“You’d best leave your name and your home address with me,” cried
Pat, following. “An’ don’t ever say I didn’t warn yez! You’re takin’
terrible risks, sir, to be savin’ a quarter of a dollar, bad cess to
them thieves an’ robbers that’s got yez! Yah! Go on with your old
autymobul! Sure, it’ll fall to heaps afore yez get to the corner! Wait
till I tells Connors the way yez have insinooated yerselves into his
business! Wait till he gets the police after yez! Wait――――”
Pat Herron’s voice was drowned in the whirr of the engine as The Ark
started off, but as long as it was in sight he stood and shook his fist
after it.
[Illustration: “As long as it was in sight he stood and shook his fist
at it”]
Tom wiped a hand across his forehead. “Gee,” he whispered, “if it took
all that work to get all of them I’d quit the business, Will!”