Rob stared, and looked more closely. He half opened his mouth to make some sort of remark, and then as though seized with a second thought, refrained.
“Do you really think so, Andy?” asked Hiram, in a half-awed way, as though he actually took some stock in the ridiculous assertion made by the other.
“Well, tell me a better explanation if you know one!” demanded Andy, which was a queer way of clinching an argument.
“Then the quickest way to mend matters would be for you to go over there and toss the heavy-weight overboard, don’t you think, Andy?” asked Rob, entering into the spirit of the joke, especially since he really believed he held the whip-hand over the fun-loving Andy.
“Huh! think so, do you, Rob?” said Andy, making out as though he felt in a fighting humor. “Well, now, perhaps that would be the easiest way to fix things. I’ve got a good mind to try it. Watch my smoke, Hiram!”
With that he actually squared himself, rolled up the sleeves of his coat, and even started across the car. Hiram turned pale. He seemed to forget that there was no possible way in which any one inside the car could manage to effect their escape so long as the great arm of the giant seesaw was elevated in the air.
“Rob, are you going to stand for that?” he burst out.
“No use trying to stop him now, Hiram,” he was told.
“But look at him squaring off, Rob, like he really means it!” cried Hiram. “It would be just like Andy, he’s so rash, you know, to get us all arrested. What if he did knock that fat boy off the car! Why, Rob, don’t you see the sudden jolt when the weight was changed might make us fly up, and bring about a catastrophe?”
“That’s so, it might, Hiram,” said Rob, trying hard to keep a straight face.