“It’s about time, too!” added the truckman, as he looked at the waters of the canal, not far distant. He continued to pull on one line. The professor still clung to the other, and the brakes were jammed on. Add to this that the road was level, and that the truck was heavily loaded, and it can easily be seen that the horses, tired as they were from their run, did not need much more to stop them. They came down to a trot, then to a walk, and finally stopped. The truckman leaped from his seat, after a glance to make sure that the boat was in no immediate danger of slipping off, though it had slid back quite a way.
“Say, that was a plucky stop!” the man cried, holding out his hand to the professor. “I’ve caught some runaways in my time, but never better than that. You saved us from a bad smash-up.”
“Um! Well, perhaps I did,” admitted Uriah Snodgrass slowly, “but I must confess I wasn’t thinking of that at the time. I wanted you to stop before you got too far, that was all.”
“And didn’t you want to save us?”
“Oh, yes, of course. But you see I was just capturing a new and very rare specimen of a yellow grasshopper when you came along. I almost had him in my net, but he jumped under a stone, and I was afraid if the horses came along they might step on the stone, and crush the insect or run a wheel over him. That’s why I wanted to stop you. I’m glad I did, though I’ll have to put a new handle on my net, for it’s broken. But I must see if I have the grasshopper.”
He ran to a flat stone in the road, carefully raised it, and made a grab for something underneath.
“I’ve got him! I’ve got him!” he cried. “Oh, you little beauty! You’re worth at least fifteen dollars. Oh, I’m glad I stopped the runaways!”
“Well, you are a queer one,” murmured the truckman as he proceeded to tie the broken rein, and then he and his men made the slipping boat secure, to hold until they could cover the short remaining distance to the canal. “Stopping a runaway to save a grasshopper! That’s the limit!”
“But it’s a yellow grasshopper, and very rare,” put in the professor with a smile, as he placed the insect in one of the cases he always carried. “I doubt if any college but mine will have a specimen like this. How did the runaway happen?”
The others told him about the dog that had scared the horses, and then the boys, having expressed their appreciation of what the professor had done, helped the men steady the boat for the rest of the trip.