“Say!” hailed Billy so soon as he was sure the Duke was well on the road to dreamland.
“Uh-huh,” sleepily.
“Duke, wake up, you sleepyhead,” urged Billy.
“What’s the matter now?” impatiently inquired the calf, yawning and stretching in the hope that the goat would take pity on him and leave him to his slumbers.
“I must tell you a story I heard yesterday.”
“Well, out with it quick!”
“The machinist who brought the automobile told it to Mr. Treat, and it’s surely a good one.
“It seems that over in York State they have a lot of foolish rules about speed limits and so on, and this man was touring last summer and experienced all sorts of trouble about it. He was spinning along a fine stretch of level country road one day, and noticed that he passed several men as he neared the outskirts of a small town. Well, these men proved to be outposts set to nab speedy automobile drivers, and they telephoned on to the next guard. So when he was just about to enter the town, there was an officer standing directly in the center of the roadway, waving his arms and calling on him to stop.
“As he blocked the highway, of course the driver drew up, and after finding that he was making better time than the rules allowed, he courteously invited the deputy to get in and ride along to the mayor’s office. The blue coat was only too glad to accept. In he jumped and away sped the car. Gradually the driver put on power until they were tearing along at a mad pace, much faster, in fact, than he had hit it up out in the country.
“‘Hold on, there!’ cautioned the officer. ‘Too fast, young man, entirely too fast!’