"I took Sam along with me for the ride—and it was some ride! It began to pour just after we started and the trip was simply one big mudhole after another; and when we reached the Shepperd farm and asked about the accident they laughed us out of the house! They wanted to know what we expected them to be threshing in the merry month of May!"
Shouts of laughter from Mr. Cane and the doctor stopped the recital for a time.
"Do tell the rest," urged Mrs. Cane, "so I can laugh too."
"Well," the doctor resumed, wiping his eyes, "I called up my office, and the girl said that just about the time I started, Bill Morton's stenographer called up and warned her to look out for a fake call she heard somebody send in from Morton's private office."
"Oh! Who could have done such a thing!" gasped Mrs. Cane.
"Bill's stenographer didn't know who it was," replied the doctor, watching Sube out of the corner of his eye. "He was too quick for her! She didn't see him!"
Sube straightened up at once and for the first time appeared to take an interest in the story.
"We had already started!" laughed the doctor uproariously. "And such a time as we had!"
The doctor's laughter was infectious. Mr. Cane had been chuckling throughout the account of their adventures and now Mrs. Cane was beginning.
"The mud was a foot deep!" cried Mr. Cane, taking up the narrative, "and we had to get out and wade around in it twice while we changed a tire. And then to top off the adventure the engine got wet and went out of commission and we had to give up the ship and walk home!!"