Introduced briefly and individually they are Phil Way, Billy Worth, Dave MacLester and Paul Jones. Just what sort of lads they are will become apparent as the acquaintanceship progresses. At the present moment attention must be returned to the spot they have so recently quitted—the little green and yellow building beneath the elms.
A very tidy structure is the small garage the four friends call their own. It stands at the end of the drive leading out past the blooming syringas and a great bed of vari-colored peonies to the street. Approach and entrance from that direction are very convenient. Or entrance by way of the alley, in the rear, may be accomplished quite as easily. Its doors, both front and back, are the largest things about the building. With both opened wide the automobile can be driven directly through. To back the car out is unnecessary at any time. Driving in from the rear means simply driving out through the front doors, or vice versa.
The custom of the young proprietors of this model establishment of its kind with reference to coming and going with the car was well known among their acquaintances. It was well known, too, that at most times the alley doors of the garage were kept closed and locked. Just why any of their friends should remain waiting at that side of the building, therefore, with them inside and the machine headed toward the street, as a glance in at the back window would easily show, might well be considered a trifle mysterious.
Also, just why any friend should apply an ear to the small crack between the door and the wall of the building proper—stooping down in an attitude of thoughtful attention upon all that was taking place inside—might well be made a subject of inquiry.
Nevertheless precisely such a situation had existed to-day. A sharp-eyed young fellow, not much less than sixteen years of age, had stood for all of ten minutes in practically the position indicated. Not until the automobile and its owners had departed did he also leave, walking hastily down the alley and keeping much closer under the cover of the high, tight-board fence than would seem entirely necessary.
The young man was too respectable in his general appearance to be mistaken for a tramp or other type of vagabond loitering about for no good purpose. Nor had he any of the usual sneak-thief characteristics, suspicious as his actions were. Only a half-surly, half-defiant expression about his hawk-like eyes and a scowl above his heavy brows gave a clue to his thoughts and purposes. It was easy to guess that in some way he had suffered a disappointment.
At the corner of a residence street upon which the lad presently emerged, his face lighted up. Smiling, as if he had concluded to think better of the matter whatever it may have been, he spoke quite aloud, yet in a low tone: "'And they piled three stones on top of one another to mark the place. One was a big field stone, another a flat stone and the third, which was at the top, was conglomerate.'" And then a moment later, "'Conglomerate! All full of pebbles like coarse gravel!' As if any man didn't know 'conglomerate'!"
There was something coarse and rasping in the way the boy repeated the latter phrase of the words he had overheard at the green and yellow shed. It suggested both maliciousness and mischief. His further language as he spoke in undertones to no ears but his own was confirmation of such an opinion. "Plenty of time yet. Guess wherever any old thirty horse-power motor can go, a forty-five can follow! Confound those little beasts! I don't see where they can be!"
That the young man's latter remark, even less amiable than it was complimentary, had reference to someone whom he expected to see, was made apparent a few minutes later when a heavy car of the roadster type, too lumbering to be of the best, came suddenly around the corner and stopped at the curb near him. The machine carried two young fellows of about his own age.
"Been looking for you everywhere, Pick," said one of the two—he at the wheel—"You said you'd go out Chestnut. What you doing way down here on the avenue?"