“Sure, Dad. Watch and see,” was the quick answer.
“I don’t know about this,” said the chauffeur, with the professional’s distrust of the amateur. “We could all pack in one car in a pinch, you know, and leave the other here.”
“But that would so overload one car that we’d have very little chance of getting there without a breakdown,” argued Bob. “Don’t worry about my driving. I’ll manage somehow.”
“I’ll bet you will,” said Joe. “You’ll have to move lively to keep from being run over,” he told the driver.
“Quit your kiddin’,” said the chauffeur, unbelievingly. “We’ll have to hit the high spots from now on, and it ain’t goin’ to be an easy job holdin’ those boilers on the road.”
Somewhat against his mother’s will, Bob cranked the motor of the car he was to drive, but took care to see that the spark was fully retarded, in consequence of which he started the engine without any trouble. The injured driver occupied the other half of the driver’s seat, so as to give Bob pointers in handling the car if they were needed.
But he soon found that Bob required very little of his advice. It was some time since he had driven a car, and at first he was a little slow at gear shifting, but soon got the “feel” of that particular car and from then on shifted with the ease and deft certainty of an expert. As a matter of fact, Bob possessed the knack of handling machinery, without which no one can really claim to be a good driver.
The injured driver was not long in recognizing this. Shortly after they had reached the main road and were once more headed for their destination, they encountered a steep grade, something over a mile in length. Both cars were going at a fair speed when they felt the first tug of gravity, but so sharp was the grade that they lost way rapidly, and it became necessary to shift into a lower speed. Bob did not wait until they had slowed down too much. With a quick shove he disengaged the clutch, shifted into neutral, and then dropped the clutch into the engagement, at the same time accelerating the engine momentarily. This causes the idle gears on the jack-shaft to revolve, after which it is comparatively easy to mesh the intermediate gear combination. Bob had no difficulty in doing this, and with his gears properly engaged, he let in the clutch again and stepped on the accelerator. The car surged forward, ploughing through the snow and skidding from side to side as it fought its way up the steep gradient.
In a few moments they caught up with the leading car, which was in difficulties. Its driver had waited too long before attempting to shift, and the car had slowed down so much by the time he got into intermediate that it would not pick up even in that speed, and he was forced to shift into low.
“I’ll bet that young feller that’s driving Jim’s car is stalled somewhere at the bottom of this hill,” he thought. “Hope I don’t have to wait too long for him after I reach the top. This road is no place for an amateur to drive, anyway. I——”