Billie, and Mary, who had been her pupil on the trip and was fast learning all that Billie could teach her, donned their “puncture coats,” as they called them. These were two long, brown linen dusters, the sleeves of which were secured at the wrists with rubber. They buttoned up from top to toe, and every vestige of dress underneath was protected.
Billie now became chief mechanician and Mary was her assistant. Together they opened up the front of the car and spreading a linen cover on the ground, Billie crawled under and fell to work.
You may think that Billie was unusually wise in her generation, but she had had a long training as a chauffeur and could pass muster with the best of them. However, she was not wise enough that evening to diagnose the Comet’s trouble. The two girls poked their inquisitive noses into every part of the machinery. They screwed and unscrewed and performed miracles of investigation in the Comet’s interior, but he persisted in the stand he had taken of suddenly becoming an invalid.
“I believe it’s the steering gear,” said Mary.
“No, child, listen to your grandmother talk. It’s this screw here that’s worn out.”
While they tinkered and worked, evening set in. There was a chill in the air, as there is always on these western plateaus after sunset. First one pale star and then another glimmered in the depths of the sky. And all the while the black speck on the road was drawing nearer.
At last the peace of the plains which had entered their souls became somewhat disturbed.
“This won’t do,” suddenly exclaimed Miss Campbell, breaking the long silence that had settled upon them. “This will never do in the world. Billie, child, can’t you fix that thing? It’s getting dark. We mustn’t be left in this lonely place all night. Hurry up, children. Do screw up something or other and let us be getting on.”
“I only wish we could,” exclaimed Billie ruefully. “I thought there was nothing about this machine I did not know, but I can’t find the trouble.”
“Besides,” pursued Mary, defending her captain, “it’s so dark we can’t see what we are doing.”