“Half an hour will make us miss the train. Can’t we fix it with you?�
“Now take keer, take keer! Don’t you go for to offer no bribes to an officer of the law. I couldn’t take them nohow,� he added as Constable Small came hurrying up with Constable Buzzell wheezing and sniffling at his heels.
“But,â€� protested Hitchens, “if you knew who——â€�
“Never mind that,� interrupted the older man sharply. “The other business will have to wait. I have a curiosity to see just how Judge Wiggin handles cases of this sort.�
“Your cur’osity,� assured Deputy Sheriff Newberry, swinging open the tonneau door, “will be satisfied. Git in, boys!�
When the three men had all piled into the rear of the car the one in command directed Hitchens to drive straight down the long main street of the town, and proceeded slowly.
Their appearance in the village was the signal for various inhabitants who observed them to grin and wag their heads, making uncomplimentary and derisive remarks, while a number of small boys, hooting and laughing, assembled and followed the car as far as Turner’s grocery, over which, in a bare and sparsely furnished room, Judge Wiggin dispensed justice by mulcting the unfortunate speeders who were arraigned before him. A number of idle citizens, who had been gossiping and swapping stories on the store steps, rose at once and followed the prisoners, conducted by Newberry and Buzzell, up the narrow back stairs to the “courtroom.� Jeremiah Small had been sent to fetch the judge.
The automobilists were given chairs facing a table which served as a desk, and an anæmic-looking young man in horn-rimmed spectacles seated himself at the table and began making out the complaint, having first questioned Buzzell about the speed which the offenders had been making when they ran into the trap.
“Your name?� inquired the clerk, turning to the older man.
“Put down John Doe,� said the latter, “and Richard Roe,� he added, nodding toward his companion. “I am the owner of the car. Richard was driving when we were held up.�