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"Oh, I wish he hadn't escaped, Dick!" And Dora clung tightly to his arm.
"Well, that can't be helped."
"Is there anything new about your father's business?"
"Nothing of any importance."
"How does he feel?"
"In his last letter he said he felt somewhat better and was going to take a trip to New York. How is your mother?"
"Quite well. But the fact that old Crabtree is at large disturbs her very much. As soon as she heard of it, she went over to the Lanings' home to stay."
The boys had driven over to Hope in a carriage. When they started to return to Brill it was quite dark.
"We've got to hurry up," remarked Tom, as they rode away, Sam driving the team.
"Why so?" asked Dick. "We have no boning to do to-night."
"Have you forgotten the spread Bob Grimes is going to give? He said it was to be the finest yet given at Brill, and I don't want to miss it."
"That's so!" cried Dick. "Sure, we want to be on hand, since we are invited. Bob is a first-class fellow."
"Queer we forgot about that feast," murmured Sam. "But I suppose we were thinking too much of the girls," and he grinned sheepishly.
"What time is the spread to come off, Tom?" asked his big brother.
"Ten o'clock sharp, so Bob said."
"In his room?"
"His room and the one next to it. They connect, you know."
"We'll get there in plenty of time -- unless we have a breakdown -- which I don't expect."
"Don't be too sure of that. This carriage is none too good. I said so when Abner Filbury brought it around for me."
"The wheels do appear to be somewhat shaky," remarked Sam.
"We miss the biplane, for making quick trips," returned Tom, with a sigh. "We ought to get a runabout -- an auto runabout, I mean."
"That's the talk!" cried his younger brother. "If we had one of those we could run over to Hope whenever we pleased."
The main road was being repaired, so, at a certain place, the boys had to turn off on a side road for a distance of nearly a mile. Here the going was anything but good, and they went down in more than one rut or hollow.
"Be careful, Sam!" warned Dick. "Don't drive so fast."
"Oh, go ahead," put in Tom, impatiently. "We are losing a lot of time on this side road."
Just then came a narrow turn, with a down grade, very uneven and full of rocks. Over the latter bumped the carriage. Then came a sudden jounce, followed by a crash.
"Whoa!" yelled Sam to the team, and brought them to a standstill at the foot of the hill.
"What broke?" asked Dick, anxiously.
"The back axle, I think," answered Tom, as he leaped to the ground.
The boys had a lantern with them and with this they looked for the damage done. Tom's guess proved correct -- the back axle had given way close to the left wheel.
"What's to be done now?" asked Sam, in some dismay. "Say, I don't think that was my fault," he added, quickly.
"I told you to be careful," returned Dick. "Now we are in a pickle and no mistake."
"If we had a wire we might bind up that axle," said Tom, looking at the fracture, which was in the form of a long split.
"But we haven't any," said Dick. He looked into the carriage. "Nothing here but the hitching strap and I don't think that will do."
"There is a farmhouse," said Sam, pointing to a light in a nearby field. "Maybe I can get help there."
"We'll see," said Dick. "Just draw up alongside the fence -- so that nobody will run into the carriage. Now that the main road is shut off, everybody has to use this one."
Soon the carriage was safe by the roadside, and then the three Rovers hurried to where the light gleamed from the kitchen windows of a small farmhouse. Dick knocked on the door of the place.
There was a stir from within, and then the door was opened, revealing an old man, who held a lighted lamp in his trembling hand.
"Who be yeou?" he drawled.
"We have had a breakdown on the road," answered Dick. "We thought we might get some help here."
"A breakdown, eh? What sort?" And the old man gazed curiously at the boys.
In a few brief words the Rovers explained matters.
"If you can let us have some wire, or straps, we'll pay you for them," went on Dick.
"I hain't got much," replied the old man. "I'm poor, I am -- with havin' sech rheumatism I can't work the farm. But yeou kin look in the barn an' see wot there is."
The boys waited to hear no more, but hurried to the structure indicated -- a building all but ready to fall down. In a harness closet they found a few old straps and a coil of fence wire.
"I guess these will answer," said Dick.
"Anyway, let us try them. Sam, you go back and pay the old man whatever he wants, while Tom and I do the mending."
"All right," answered the youngest Rover, and hurried off in the direction of the farm-house.
Sam found the old man sitting by a small table, eating a frugal meal of beans and bread and coffee.
"We found three old straps and some fence wire," said the youth. "What do you suppose they are worth?"