“‘Something’ll happen soon,’ he says.

“An’ it did, within ten minutes from date.  We could see a blue car half a mile ahead.

“‘I’ll go by that ol’ freight-car o’ the Henshaws’,’ says Dan.  ’They’ll take after me, for Sam is vain of his car.  We can halt them in that narrow cut on the hill beyond the Byron River.’

“We had rounded the turn at Chesterville, when we saw the Henshaw car just ahead of us, with Aleck at the wheel an’ Lizzie beside him an’ Sam on the back seat.  I saw the peril in the situation.

“The long rivalry between the houses of Henshaw an’ Pettigrew, reinforced by that of the young men, was nearing its climax.

“‘See me go by that old soap-box o’ the Henshaws’,’ says Dan, as he pulled out to pass ’em.

“Then Dan an’ Aleck began a duel with automobiles.  Each had a forty-horse-power engine in his hands, with which he was resolved to humble the other.  Dan knew that he was goin’ to bring down the price o’ Alecks an’ Henshaws.  First we got ahead; then they scraped by us, crumpling our fender on the nigh side.  Lizzie an’ I lost our hats in the scrimmage.  We gathered speed an’ ripped off a section o’ their bulwarks, an’ roared along neck an’ neck with ’em.  The broken fenders rattled like drums in a battle.  A hen flew up an’ hit me in the face, an’ came nigh unhorsin’ me.  I hung on.  It seemed as if Fate was tryin’ to halt us, but our horse-power was too high.  A dog went under us.  It began to rain a little.  We were a length ahead at the turn by the Byron River.  We swung for the bridge an’ skidded an’ struck a telephone pole, an’ I went right on over the stone fence an’ the clay bank an’ lit on my head in the water.  Dan Pettigrew lit beside me.  Then came Lizzie an’ Sam—­they fairly rained into the river.  I looked up to see if Aleck was comin’, but he wasn’t.  Sam, bein’ so heavy, had stopped quicker an’ hit in shallow water near the shore, but, as luck would have it, the bottom was soft an’ he had come down feet foremost, an’ a broken leg an’ some bad bruises were all he could boast of.  Lizzie was in hysterics, but seemed to be unhurt.  Dan an’ I got ‘em out on the shore, an’ left ’em cryin’ side by side, an’ scrambled up the bank to find Aleck.  He had aimed too low an’ hit the wall, an’ was stunned, an’ apparently, for the time, dead as a herrin’ on the farther side of it.  I removed the ten one-thousand-dollar bills from his person to prevent complications an’ tenderly laid him down.  Then he came to very sudden.

“‘Stop!’ he murmured.  ‘You’re robbin’ me.’

“‘Well, you begun it,’ I says.  ’Don’t judge me hastily.  I’m a philanthropist.  I’m goin’ to leave you yer liberty an’ a hundred dollars.  You take it an’ get.  If you ever return to Connecticut I’ll arrest you at sight.’

“I gave him the money an’ called the officer, who had just come up.  A traveller in a large tourin’-car had halted near us.