Steve and the Steam Engine | Page 9

took possession of Stephen; but with resolution he

forced it back. Nervously he fingered the road map. If he had only
spoken at the beginning! It was harder now. He should have made a
clean breast of the whole affair when his father got home from New
York. Then was the time to have done it. But since he had let that
opportunity pass it was awkward, almost absurd, to make confession
now. He would much better keep still.
In the meanwhile a gradual depression fell upon the occupants of the
car. Mrs. Tolman did not speak; Doris subsided into hushed annoyance;
and Mr. Tolman began to pace back and forth at the side of the road
and anxiously scan the stretch of macadam that narrowed away
between the avenue of trees bordering the highway. Presently he
uttered an exclamation of relief.
"Here comes a truck!" he cried. "We will tip the driver and persuade
him to let you ride on to Torrington with him, Steve. This is great
luck!"
Stepping into the pathway of the approaching car he held up his hand
and the passer-by came to a stop beside him.
Stephen looked up expectantly; then a thrill of foreboding seized him
and he quickly turned his head aside. It needed no second glance to
assure him that the man whom his father was addressing was none
other than the workman in the brown jeans who had rescued him from
his former plight. He bent lower over the road map, trying to conceal
his face and decide what to do. In another moment the teamster would
probably recognize him, recall the incident of their former meeting, and
hailing him as an old acquaintance, relate the entire story. The
possibility was appalling, but terrible as it was it did not equal the
disquietude he experienced when he heard his father ejaculate with
sudden surprise:
"Why, if it isn't O'Malley! I did not recognize you, Jake. You are just in
time to extricate us from a most inconvenient situation. We are headed
for Northampton and find ourselves without gasoline. If you can take
my son along to Torrington with you so he can hunt up a garage and
ride back with some one on a service car I shall be very grateful to

you."
"I'd be glad to go myself, sir."
"No, no! I shall not allow you to do that," protested Mr. Tolman. "You
are on your way to work and I could not think of detaining you. All I
ask is that you take my boy along to the village."
"I'd really be pleased to go, sir," reiterated O'Malley. "I am in no great
rush."
"No, I shan't hear to it, Jake," Mr. Tolman repeated. "Nevertheless I
appreciate your offer. Take the boy along and that is all I'll ask. Come,
Steve, jump aboard! O'Malley, son, is one of our railroad people,
whose services we value highly. He is going to be good enough to let
you ride over to Torrington with him."
Although the introduction compelled Stephen to give the waiting
employee a nod of greeting, he did not meet his eye or evince any sign
of recognition, and he sensed that the light that had flashed into the
man's face at sight of him died out as quickly as it had come. The boy
had an uncomfortable realization as he climbed to the seat of the truck
and took his place beside its driver that O'Malley must be rating him as
a snob. No one but a cad would accept a stranger's kindness and then
cut him dead the next time he encountered him. It was better to endure
this misjudgment, however, than to acknowledge a previous
acquaintance with the mechanic and thereby arouse his father's
suspicion and curiosity. Hence, without further parley, he settled
himself and in silence the truck started off.
For some minutes he waited, expecting that when they were well out of
earshot of the family the man at the wheel would turn and with a laugh
make some reference to the adventure of the past week. It certainly
must have amused him to find the great red car again stalled in the
same spot, and what would be more natural than that he should
comment on the coincidence and perhaps make a joke of the
circumstance? But to the boy's chagrin the teamster did no such thing.
Instead he kept his eyes fixed on the road and gave no evidence that he

had ever before seen the lad at his elbow.
Stephen was aghast. It was not possible the workman had forgotten the
happening. He began to feel very uncomfortable. As the landscape
slipped past and the car sped on, the distance to Torrington lessened.
Still there seemed to be no prospect of the stranger