He always carried a substantial lunch with him, to guard against emergencies, and of this he now partook heartily. When he had finished, he busied himself in cleaning and thoroughly inspecting his faithful mount, and found it in fine condition, even after such a strenuous day. “No need to worry about your not delivering the goods, is there, old boy?” he said, affectionately. “As long as you stick to the job, we’ll pull through all right.”
By the time he had completed his inspection and made some adjustments it was almost dark, and Bert rolled himself in his blanket and was soon sleeping soundly.
Meantime Tom and Dick were awaiting him at Boyd, a small town in Northern Texas. When he failed to arrive, they decided that some unforeseen event had delayed him, and were not much worried. Nevertheless, they were not quite easy about him, and Tom made a proposition that met with instant approbation from Dick.
“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea,” Tom proposed, “to hire an automobile early to-morrow morning and meet him outside the town on his way in? It will break up the trip a little for him, and then, in case he’s had a breakdown we can help him out.”
“Fine!” agreed Dick, enthusiastically, “let’s go out right now and make arrangements with the garage keeper so we’ll be sure to get the machine in the morning. We might as well be on the safe side.”
They immediately sallied out to put this plan in execution. They experienced no difficulty in making the necessary arrangements. They paid the proprietor of the garage a deposit, and so secured the use of a fast, two-seated runabout for the following morning.
Before they left Dick asked the proprietor at what time the place was open. “Oh, it’s always open,” he replied, “come and get the car any time you want it. It’s all the same to me, so long as it’s paid for.”
“All right, we’ll take you at your word,” they promised, and returned to the hotel.
“We’ll get a good early start,” planned Tom, “we ought to leave the garage before six o’clock if we expect to meet Bert in time.”