Something had happened, for the driver was on the ground and appeared to be busy trying to mend a break in the harness, or something still more serious.
As he drew nearer Dick saw first of all that the man was Mr. Cartwright, the miller, the very man he was intending to see, and the next thing he noticed was that the loaded wagon was tilted on one side, showing that a wheel must have given away, threatening a complete collapse.
He hurried up, wondering if his lucky star might not be in the ascendant just then, the opportunity to get in the good graces of the miller seeming so good.
The dusty miller was scratching his head in puzzled wonder at just the minute Dick arrived on the scene.
"Good morning, Mr. Cartwright. You seem to have met with an accident," remarked the boy, as he came alongside.
The man looked up with interest, to show more or less disappointment when he found that it was only a boy who had arrived.
"It's you, is it, Dick? Yes, I've broken down at last. Twenty years more or less I've carried loads back and forth between my mill and the town, and never once in all that time have I had such an accident. The wheel is giving way. If I try to go on it will smash entirely, and perhaps part of my load be thrown off. How to get home is a question I am trying to decide. I hate to unload. If I had another wheel and a jack here I might get around the trouble."
"I could get them for you, sir; or if you thought best we could take a rail from the fence here and use it to hold up the load while you crept home. It isn't a great way off, you know," remarked Dick, quickly.
"Do you think we could fix it with a rail lashed under the axle? I've seen it done with an empty wagon but never with a full one," exclaimed the miller, brightening up.
"By changing a part of the load, and throwing it over on the side where there are two sound wheels I think it could be managed, sir," replied Dick, and there was such an air of conviction about his smiling face that the miller seemed to be convinced even against his own judgment.