“Say, Pa,” said Dick shyly, “that mongoose was rather like Professor, wasn’t he!”

Plainly the Professor was the traditional hero of this family, and I began to feel rather like an impostor!

I suppose it was foolish of me, but I had already made up my mind to push on to Woodbridge that night.  It could not be more than four miles, and the time was not much after eight.  I felt a little twinge of quite unworthy annoyance because I was still treading in the glamour of the Professor’s influence.  The Pratts would talk of nothing else, and I wanted to get somewhere where I would be estimated at my own value, not merely as his disciple.  “Darn the Redbeard,” I said to myself, “I think he has bewitched these people!” And in spite of their protests and invitations to stay the night, I insisted on having Peg hitched up.  I gave them the copy of the “Jungle Book” as a small return for their hospitality, and finally sold Mr. Pratt a little copy of “Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare” which I thought he could read without brain fever.  Then I lit my lantern and after a chorus of good-byes Parnassus rolled away.  “Well,” I said to myself as I turned into the high road once more, “drat the gingersnap, he seems to hypnotize everybody... he must be nearly in Brooklyn by this time!”

It was very quiet along the road, also very dark, for the sky had clouded over and I could see neither moon nor stars.  As it was a direct road I should have had no difficulty, and I suppose I must have fallen into a doze during which Peg took a wrong turning.  At any rate, I realized about half-past nine that Parnassus was on a much rougher road than the highway had any right to be, and there were no telephone poles to be seen.  I knew that they stretched all along the main road, so plainly I had made a mistake.  I was reluctant for a moment to admit that I could be wrong, and just then Peg stumbled heavily and stood still.  She paid no heed to my exhortations, and when I got out and carried my lantern to see whether anything was in the way, I found that she had cast a shoe and her foot was bleeding.  The shoe must have dropped off some way back and she had picked up a nail or something in the quick.  I saw no alternative but to stay where I was for the night.

This was not very pleasant, but the adventures of the day had put me into a stoical frame of mind, and I saw no good in repining.  I unhitched Peg, sponged her foot, and tied her to a tree.  I would have made more careful explorations to determine just where I was, but a sharp patter of rain began to fall.  So I climbed into my Parnassus, took Bock in with me, and lit the swinging lamp.  By this time it was nearly ten o’clock.  There was nothing to do but turn in, so I took off my boots and lay down in the bunk.  Bock lay quite comfortably on the floor of the van.  I meant to read for a while, and so did not turn out the light, but I fell asleep almost immediately.