It was I who spoke. The foot race of two days before flashed suddenly into my mind, and the last thing I had heard Peter say, "But Jimmy, what makes you go so fast?"
"What did you tell him?" I asked eagerly.
"Well," Michel scratched his red head, "I told him the gasoline, Miss Mavis, just to keep him quiet."
In a word I told the others about the race and Peter's disappointment. "You don't suppose," I finished, hesitating, "that he tried to...."
"Drink gasoline?" concluded Dr. Benton thoughtfully.
We all looked at Michel.
"Well," he said slowly, "seems to me that I did see him foolin' around the tank. But I was busy, and when I looked up again, he was gone."
"I seen him runnin'," interposed Loretta suddenly. "Runnin' down toward the gate. I remember now!"
"Gasoline!" said Peter's mother pitifully, "Would ... would it kill him, Doctor?"
The doctor laughed outright.