Sam ducked around in front and then came running back, all excited. “Men chase Tallow!” he said. “He run! They run! Not catch him, I guess.”
They could see old man Willis out behind the house dancing up and down and capering around, but not offering to join in the chase after me. He was pretty nearly over to the opposite fence. The house was all alone.
“Opportunity,” says Mark to himself. “He said it would come.” Then he turned to Sammy. “Over the fence,” he whispered. “Git through that winder and git the engine that’s in there. Understand? It’s heavy, but you g-g-got to carry it down to the boat. Quick!”
Sammy jumped over the fence and ran to the house, with Mark following as fast as he could. It didn’t take any kind of a whack to knock the screen out of the window; and Sammy crawled in, grinning and happy as though he was playing some sort of a game, which I suppose he thought he was.
The engine stood right in the middle of the floor, and he stooped to lift it. First he couldn’t get a good hold, but he tipped up one end and got his fingers under, and then got a grip some way with the other hand, and lifted.
Mark says he never saw anything like it in his life. Sammy had a thin kind of a shirt on, and it drew tight across his back and arms so Mark could see the muscles come up in big bunches and knots and rolls. Sammy lifted so hard the muscles seemed like they were going to snap. He bent his knees and got his legs and back into it, and up came the engine from the floor. It seemed like an hour to Mark, but most probably it wasn’t a whole minute. Sammy staggered to the window and rested the turbine on the sill. There was just room for him to squeeze by and jump outside while Mark steadied it for him.
“Hurry!” panted Mark. “Hurry!”
Sammy tipped the engine so it slid down into his arms, while Mark grabbed one side so it wouldn’t topple over. It was a whopping heavy thing, and Sammy grunted when he got the full weight of it; but he braced himself firmly, using all his strength, and there he was.
“Down to the boat!” stuttered Mark. “Quick!”
Sammy couldn’t go very fast with all that turbine to carry, and Mark wasn’t much good to help. He was so fat he couldn’t get close enough without getting in the way, so he just trotted alongside and held her steady. Sammy panted and puffed and grunted and staggered, but they got along smooth for maybe fifty feet. They were just going to turn in among the evergreen trees, where they would be safe as far as old Willis was concerned, when what should the old man do but come poking around the back of the house!